EDUCATION IN A COMPETITIVE AND GLOBALIZING WORLD SERIES
DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
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EDUCATION IN A COMPETITIVE AND GLOBALIZING WORLD SERIES Motivation in Education Desmond H. Elsworth (Editor) 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60692-234-7 The Reading Literacy of U.S. FourthGrade Students in an International Context Justin Baer, Stéphane Baldi, Kaylin Ayotte,Patricia J. Gree and Daniel McGrath 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-138-3 Teacher Qualifications and Kindergartners’ Achievements Cassandra M. Guarino, Laura S. Hamilton, J.R. Lockwood, Amy H. Rathbun and Elvira Germino Hausken 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-180-2 Effects of Family Literacy Interventions on Children's Acquisition of Reading Ana Carolina Pena (Editor) 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-236-6 Nutrition Education and Change Beatra F. Realine (Editor) 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60692-983-4
Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America Rainer D. Ivanov 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60692-582-9 Evaluating Online Learning: Challenges and Strategies for Success Arthur T. Weston (Editor) 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-107-9
Learning in the Network Society and the Digitized School Rune Krumsvik (Editor) 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-172-7 Rural Education in the 21st Century Christine M.E. Frisiras (Editor) 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60692-966-7 IT- Based Project Change Management System Faisal Manzoor Arain and Low Sui Pheng 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-148-2 Reading: Assessment, Comprehension and Teaching Nancy H. Salas and Donna D. Peyton (Editors) 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60692-615-4 Reading: Assessment, Comprehension and Teaching Nancy H. Salas and Donna D. Peyton (Editors) 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60876-543-0 (Online Book) Mentoring: Program Development, Relationships and Outcomes Michael I. Keel (Editor) 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60692-287-3 Mentoring: Program Development, Relationships and Outcomes Michael I. Keel 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60876-727-4 (Online Book)
Enhancing Prospects of LongerTerm Sustainability of Cross-Cultural INSET Initiatives in China Chunmei Yan 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-615-9 Multimedia in Education and Special Education Onan Demir and Cari Celik 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-073-7 PCK and Teaching Innovations Syh-Jong Jang 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-147-5 Academic Administration: A Quest for Better Management and Leadership in Higher Education Sheying Chen (Editor) 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-732-3 New Research in Education: Adult, Medical and Vocational Edmondo Balistrieri and Giustino DeNino (Editors) 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-873-3
Approaches to Early Childhood and Elementary Education Francis Wardle 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-643-2
Recent Trends in Education Borislav Kuzmanović and Adelina Cuevas (Editors) 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-795-8 Expanding Teaching and Learning Horizons in Economic Education Franklin G. Mixon, Jr. and Richard J. Cebula 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-971-6 Challenges of Quality Education in Sub-Saharan African Countries Daniel Namusonge Sifuna and Nobuhide Sawamura 2009. ISBN: 978-1-60741-509-1 Developments in Higher Education Mary Lee Albertson (Editor) 2010. ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5
EDUCATION IN A COMPETITIVE AND GLOBALIZING WORLD SERIES
DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
MARY LEE ALBERTSON EDITOR
Nova Science Publishers, Inc. New York
Copyright © 2010 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic, tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the Publisher. For permission to use material from this book please contact us: Telephone 631-231-7269; Fax 631-231-8175 Web Site: http://www.novapublishers.com NOTICE TO THE READER The Publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this book, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained in this book. The Publisher shall not be liable for any special, consequential, or exemplary damages resulting, in whole or in part, from the readers’ use of, or reliance upon, this material. Independent verification should be sought for any data, advice or recommendations contained in this book. In addition, no responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from any methods, products, instructions, ideas or otherwise contained in this publication. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered herein. It is sold with the clear understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or any other professional services. If legal or any other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent person should be sought. FROM A DECLARATION OF PARTICIPANTS JOINTLY ADOPTED BY A COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION AND A COMMITTEE OF PUBLISHERS. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Developments in higher education / Mary Lee Albertson, editor. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-61324-338-1 (eBook) 1. Education, Higher. I. Albertson, Mary Lee. LB2325.D47 2009 378--dc22 2009034042
Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. New York
CONTENTS Preface Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
ix Examining Ways to Improve Visual Teaching Materials: The Role of Visual Literacy and Predominate Learning Modality Arianne Rourke Deconstructing Interteaching: Is the Whole Greater than the Sum of Its Parts? Fuschia M. Sirois, Alan Scoboria and Antonio Pascual-Leone
1
37
What Do Trainee Teachers Know and What Do They Think About Social Studies? Jesús Estepa and José María Cuenca
59
Different Groups Challenge Pedagogical Design in a Higher Education Raija Hämäläinen
81
Investigating the Demand for Higher Education: The Effect of Social, Economic, Institutional and Personal Variables Maria Eliophotou Menon
101
A Review of Strategies for Supporting Reflection in Online Learning Environments Ting-ling Lai and Susan M. Land
119
Internet Virtual and Remote Control Interface for Robotics Education Carlos A. Jara, Francisco A. Candelas and Fernando Torres
135
Prospective Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in English Language Teaching: Implications for Teacher Education in Hong Kong David W. Chan, Eunice L. Y. Tang, John C. K. Lee and Cecilia K. W. Chun
155
viii Chapter 9
Contents Anthropology of Education: 30 Years of Experience in China Qi Jinyu
169
Chapter 10
Assessment and Enhancement of Oral Care Self-Efficacy Manabu Morita, Naoki Kakudate, Itsuo Chiba and Masamitsu Kawanami
183
Chapter 11
Peer Evaluation: Strategies and Tactics Beatriz Peña, Juan A. Piñuela, Judith Redoli and Rafael Mompo
197
Chapter 12
Educating Medical Students About Pregnant Women with Drug Addiction Disorders Brittany B. Albright and William F. Rayburn
Index
209 215
PREFACE This new and important book presents the latest research from around the globe on the developments in higher education in areas such as interteaching, the socio-economic demand for higher education, improving visual teaching materials, online learning, anthropology of education, etc. The phenomenal expansion of higher education systems in the second half of the twentieth century has resulted in an interest in the factors influencing the decision of young people to pursue tertiary education. The demand for higher education is commonly considered to be subject to a great number of influences, the most important of which fall under the following categories of variables: social/familial, psychological/individual, economic/occupational, and structural/institutional. Chapter 1 - Many researchers in education have expressed the importance of developing visual literacy skills in students with general consensus that “as teachers we should concentrate and exploit the visual sense through the nurturing and development of visual literacy”. It is also acknowledged that in the elearning multimedia world of the 21st century students “need to be able to think critically about and manipulate visual information and make solid interpretation of its meaning”. The occurrence of high levels of visual literacy among undergraduate design students is a reasonable assumption but there was to date limited evidence to support this notion. Furthermore, a preponderance of visually inclined learners among undergraduate design students also seemed a reasonable assumption but was also hypothetical. Gaining an understanding of visual literacy levels and predominant learning styles among undergraduate design students provides teachers with the opportunity to assess and adapt their teaching strategies to the learning environment. As Hawk and Shah testifies that faculties “are likely to reach only some students in a given course if they assume that all students learn the same way or that one teaching approach will connect with all students.” Teachers both in the humanities as well as science-based disciplines in higher education rely heavily on using visual material to explain complex concepts to students. It is often presumed that students have reasonable levels of visual literacy skills to comprehend these visual examples as well as that students are predominately visual or auditory learners hence the heavy reliance on the use of lectures in higher education. Current research by Rourke and O’Connor has investigated the visual literacy levels and dominant learning style modalities of undergraduate design students where high levels of visual literacy and a predominance of visually-inclined learners was assumed. Their research discovered that these assumptions were not supported by the data and that in fact there was also a high incidence of kinaesthetic learners, a learning style hardly catered for in the teaching methods and learning activities
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employed. The importance of these findings and the recommendations proposed will be discussed in terms of improving the use of visual material in higher education in order to facilitate the long term retention of learning. Chapter 2 - Interteaching is a theoretically-based teaching method with an emerging empirical base. Interteaching stands in contrast to traditional lecture-based educational methods by shifting responsibility for engagement with material away from instructors and onto students. This is accomplished through the use of preparation guides, in class discussion and interteaching reports, and clarifying lectures, three components which include educational techniques known to be effective for promoting student learning and engagement. In this chapter we present the current empirical literature on interteaching. We then deconstruct interteaching and review the literature to explore why the three components of interteaching - preparation guides, in class discussion and interteaching report, and clarifying lectures - promote student engagement and learning. Drawing upon our own research on the use of interteaching we then contrast key findings from the literature review with student perceptions and experiences of interteaching across several upper level undergraduate psychology courses. Although the theoretical basis of each component may explain why interteaching contributes to student engagement and learning, we argue that the emergent properties of all interteaching components in combination provide benefits that go beyond those derived from the individual parts. Suggestions for how to integrate interteaching into undergraduate courses and tips for developing material and for using this teaching method are discussed. Chapter 3 - One of the fundamental problems facing initial teacher training is the development of effective training programmes to raise the quality of teaching and tackle the demands that trainees will meet when they enter the profession. Our perspective adopts a constructivist approach, whereby understanding the working conceptions and knowledge of trainees, and developing these over the course of their university studies, enables us to improve the impact of initial training on professional practice. This chapter presents a summary of various studies we have conducted into initial university training at Nursery, Primary and Secondary levels within the area of the Social Sciences over the last ten years. A common theme is the analysis of prospective teachers’ pedagogic content knowledge in respect of areas which we consider essential for their professional development, such as history, heritage and society, both contemporary and historical. The studies foreground the trainees’ predominating professional knowledge with respect to their scientific, pedagogical and curricular conceptions in the field of the Social Sciences, and this enables us to detect obstacles to the structuring of professional knowledge in keeping with the principles that we consider desirable for the training of reflective, critical and innovative teachers. Chapter 4 - This chapter explores pedagogical design in facilitating computer-supported collaborative learning in the light of two cases in higher education contexts. This study addresses two major aims: To elaborate different theoretical guidelines for the design of pedagogical core ideas of scripted tasks, which support the development of cognitive, social, developmental, or motivational aspects of learning; and to examine whether the groups followed the theoretical core ideas of the scripts and how groups’ activities varied between collaborative Group A and non-collaborative Group B despite apparently similar instructional
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support. Finally, we will discuss the main reasons behind different qualities of collaboration. On the basis of the challenges raised from the study, future prospects will be drawn. Chapter 5 - The chapter investigates the main influences on the private demand for higher education, through an investigation of the decision of young people to select higher education over employment at the end of their secondary education. It is based on a survey of 611 secondary school seniors which took place in Cyprus, a small Mediterranean country and a member of the European Union. The methodology employs both quantitative and qualitative methods for the analysis of the survey data. Four categories of variables reported to be important as demand-influencing factors in the literature were examined, namely, social, economic, institutional and individual/personal factors. According to the findings, the most important influences on the student’s decision to pursue higher education were the following: the student’s ability, the student’s gender, personal/psychological and economic considerations. Higher ability students and female students were found to be more likely to pursue higher education. This was also the case for students who placed emphasis on personal and economic considerations in the pursuit of higher studies. This chapter compares the findings to those of an earlier study of the topic in the same country, and discusses the implications of the findings for higher education policy. Chapter 6 - Reflection is essential to deep learning and problem solving. Recently, as online courses have become available for residential students on college campuses, it is often challenging for online instructors to foster reflection. From a socio-cultural perspective, reflection is developed through social interaction and semiotic mediation. Students need to be given opportunities to review their own and others’ mental processes and to use techniques such as writing or verbal reports to organize and revise thoughts. In addition, students also need guidance in reflection; without guidance, reflection can become self-referential, inward looking and superficial, and lead to aimless retrospective thinking. This paper reviews strategies for supporting reflection in online environments, primarily focusing on journaling / blogging and small group asynchronous discussion. We discuss how these strategies support reflection, and survey studies that investigate the effectives of the two strategies. We also provide suggestions for guidance and evaluation of reflection with online learning environments. Chapter 7 - Experiments allow students to develop a deep understanding of theoretical lessons. Thus, the role of experimentation is a key concept in the education world, mainly in science and engineering disciplines. However, problems such as expensive equipment and limited time, prevent teachers having sufficient educational platforms for student experimentation. With the development of Internet technology, educational institutions have been expanding the available resources for practical learning thanks to Web-based experimentation, which represents an essential issue in the development of e-learning solutions in the current education paradigm. Nowadays, one of the most important weblearning resources is the virtual and remote laboratory, which allows access to experimentation environments at any time, at any place. Its interactivity encourages students to play a more active role in the e-learning process and provides them with realistic hands-on experience. Robotics is an essential topic in the current technological world, and robotic systems have accomplished an explosive growth in the last few years. Consequently, educators have to provide students practical environments to improve their robotic experience. For this reason,
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the research group to which authors belong have developed a virtual and remote laboratory for training and learning in Robotics called RobUALab.ejs (http://robualab.eps.ua.es). This system allows users to simulate and test positioning commands for a robot by means of a virtual environment with augmented reality support, as well as execute high-level commands in a real remote robot through the Internet. The application has been developed using Java, which allowed a full portability and an interactive graphical user interface. The most important aspect of the system presented is that it collects many interesting features such as a complete robot and world simulation, a very realistic 3D graphical environment, robot dynamics, programming, remote power, lightning and robot control, augmented and virtual reality, which are not found together in any free software like this. This e-learning platform is being used in the course “Robot and Sensorial Systems” in the Computer Science degree at the University of Alicante. In addition, this system belongs to a network composed of different virtual and remote laboratories from Spanish universities called “AutomatL@bs” (http://lab.dia.uned.es./automatlab). The main goal of this project is to provide a collaborative environment based in eMersion where students and teachers from different universities of Spain can experiment with real equipment and share experimental results. Chapter 8 - Self-efficacy beliefs regarding the teaching of English language in reading, writing, listening, and speaking were assessed in a sample of 55 prospective Chinese teachers who were trained to teach English as a second language in Hong Kong. These teachers reported that their sense of self-efficacy in teaching speaking and writing seemed to go together, whereas their sense of self-efficacy in teaching reading emerged as relatively distinct. Prospective teachers with teaching-practice experience did report significantly higher scores on self-efficacy in teaching speaking-writing than those without teaching-practice experience. Implications of the findings for efforts to enhance teaching performance through enhancing teaching self-efficacy are discussed. The use of information technology such as blog-based teaching portfolio is suggested to provide an avenue through which prospective teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs could be closely examined to provide insights into the changes of self-efficacy in relation to teaching effectiveness. Chapter 9 - In this chapter, the study of the past 30 years (1978 ~ 2008) in China’s education course to be sort of anthropological research, focusing on education and anthropology disciplines interdisciplinary, cross-study experience in China. This article been concerned about the development of education in the academic disciplines of anthropology source and the development history of the anthropology of education in China, combined with our local practice in the course of the problems that exist in the future, as well as the development of the topics to be explored deeper. Chapter 10 - Success in achieving good periodontal health depends on whether or not periodontal disease patients can properly adhere to treatment. These patients need effective interventions to improve their adherence to oral hygiene instruction and periodontal treatment. Tentative evidence from low-quality studies indicates that psychological approaches to modifying behavior patterns can improve oral hygiene-related behavior. Accordingly, psychological models should be used in studies aimed at establishing effective interventions to improve oral health-related behavior. Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s confidence in determining, "how well they can take necessary action to producing certain results." In clinical practice, self-efficacy refers to "how certain a patient feels about their ability to take necessary action to improve the indicators and
Preface
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maintenance of their health." Medical clinical practice has focused on the function of selfefficacy as a factor antecedent to behavior modification, much as the symptoms of diabetes and other chronic diseases improve through enhanced self-efficacy. Based on these concepts, it is assumed that the prognosis for a patient with periodontitis can be improved by assessing, first the proficiency of their self-efficacy, subsequently providing psycho-educational instruction suitable to each patient, and ultimately promoting behavioral change for oral-care. A task-specific self-efficacy scale for self-care (SESS) for periodontal disease patients was developed. The SESS predicted improvement in self-care and the continuation of consistent and sound periodontal treatment. Self-efficacy belief is constructed from four principal sources of information, performance accomplishment, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological and affective states. ‘Performance accomplishment’ is based on an individual's personal accomplishments. ‘Vicarious experience’ is gained by observing others perform activities successfully. ‘Verbal persuasion’ refers to activities in which people are led through suggestion, to believe they can cope successfully with specific tasks. ‘Physiological and affective states’ are an individual's physiological or emotional states which influence selfefficacy judgment. Self-efficacy can be enhanced by effectively exploiting these four sources. The authors developed a periodontitis patient's education program that employs a six-step method to enhance self-efficacy for improved oral care, and then reported on its effectiveness. This chapter introduces the current study’s results concerning the application of the selfefficacy theory in periodontitis patient education, together with findings clarified by other researchers. Chapter 11 - In recent years, those in the education field have been involved in a substantial change: We are going from teacher-centered to student-centered education, from passive to active learning. There is a great emphasis on actively involving students in the learning process, hoping that they construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences. Due to this great turn, evaluation techniques are also changing: First, we need to measure the distance students are going through, then we assess learning, and finally, we evaluate results in terms of setting criteria. The more viewpoints we have in this process, the better will be the evaluation that will result. Evaluation is also suddenly focused on involving learners in the process, mainly through peer and self evaluation. Some advantages in using learners as evaluators are clear: They are the audience for whom the teaching is intended, and they are in a good position to evaluate the impact of the teaching on their own learning. Peer evaluation is an evaluation technique where each student takes their partner's assignment and gives a critical feedback. Depending on its nature, the student may also correct grammar mistakes or problem-solving inaccuracies. Students will receive valid feedback from their peers only if teachers previously establish an evaluation criterion and structure the activity very carefully. Peers are in a great position to judge their colleagues’ work, since they have worked on the same assignment. The question we now have to answer is: Are students reliable judgers? Are their reactions useful? How can we measure the effectiveness of peer evaluation? Chapter 12 - Objective: For the past four academic years (July 2004 to June 2008), we evaluated the educational value to medical students of attending a special prenatal clinic for women seeking rehabilitation for drug addiction. This report reviews our students’ collective
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experience and offers recommendations for expanding their awareness about treating this select group of patients. Study Design: A total of 294 students were consecutively assigned either to attend (study group) or not to attend (control group) a weekly prenatal clinic designed specifically for women rehabilitating from substance use. Each anonymously answered a survey regarding his/her comfort levels and attitudes at the beginning and end of their third-year obstetrics and gynecology clerkship. Results: Students who attended the clinic reported that they became less judgmental and more comfortable in talking with drug and alcohol-addicted patients. In contrast, the control group saw these patients in the hospital only and became less comfortable in talking with them, less aware about prenatal management of substance use, and less aware about on-going counseling sessions. The students’ written comments led us to update a handout about drug addiction during pregnancy, create a learning experience at a drug rehabilitation residence for pregnant women, and survey graduates about the long-term value of this brief clinical practicum. Conclusion: Medical students benefited by attending a special prenatal clinic by learning about the challenges and complexities faced by pregnant women struggling with drug addiction rehabilitation. Interacting with these patients outside the hospital offers students an improved awareness about drug eradication beyond understanding the medical aspects of their pregnancy.
In: Developments in Higher Education Editor: Mary Lee Albertson
ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5 © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 1
EXAMINING WAYS TO IMPROVE VISUAL TEACHING MATERIALS: THE ROLE OF VISUAL LITERACY AND PREDOMINATE LEARNING MODALITY Arianne Rourke The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Zena O’Connor The University of Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT Many researchers in education have expressed the importance of developing visual literacy skills in students (Levie, 1978; Sless, 1984; Seels, 1994; Rakes, 1999; Romice, 2000) with general consensus that “as teachers we should concentrate and exploit the visual sense through the nurturing and development of visual literacy” (Avgerinou & Ericson, 1997, p.287). It is also acknowledged that in the elearning multimedia world of the 21st century students “need to be able to think critically about and manipulate visual information and make solid interpretation of its meaning” (Rakes, 1999, p.14). The occurrence of high levels of visual literacy among undergraduate design students is a reasonable assumption but there was to date limited evidence to support this notion. Furthermore, a preponderance of visually inclined learners among undergraduate design students also seemed a reasonable assumption but was also hypothetical. Gaining an understanding of visual literacy levels and predominant learning styles among undergraduate design students provides teachers with the opportunity to assess and adapt their teaching strategies to the learning environment. As Hawk and Shah testifies (2007) that faculties “are likely to reach only some students in a given course if they assume that all students learn the same way or that one teaching approach will connect with all students” (p.2). Teachers both in the humanities as well as science-based disciplines in higher education rely heavily on using visual material to explain complex concepts to students. It is often presumed that students have reasonable levels of visual literacy skills to comprehend these visual examples as well as that students are predominately visual or auditory learners hence the heavy reliance on the use of lectures in higher education. Current research by Rourke and O’Connor (2008) has investigated the visual literacy
2
Arianne Rourke and Zena O’Connor levels and dominant learning style modalities of undergraduate design students where high levels of visual literacy and a predominance of visually-inclined learners was assumed. Their research discovered that these assumptions were not supported by the data and that in fact there was also a high incidence of kinaesthetic learners, a learning style hardly catered for in the teaching methods and learning activities employed. The importance of these findings and the recommendations proposed will be discussed in terms of improving the use of visual material in higher education in order to facilitate the long term retention of learning.
INTRODUCTION In higher education where the curriculum is not as prescriptive as primary or secondary education, the course material used to teach even the same discipline can vary enormously. The teaching methods used to teach this material tends to rely on each academics’ experience, knowledge and understanding of the various teaching methods that can be employed as well as their own comfort factor in adopting them. Many academics are employed on the basis of their academic qualifications, research and teaching experience with less emphasis being placed on having acquired formal higher education teacher training. As a result they often begin by teaching how they were taught or experimenting with various teaching methods. Hawk and Shah (2007) have suggested that “most faculty in higher education initially adopt a teaching style that merges (firstly), the ways they prefer to learn (and secondly) approaches to teaching they saw as effective for their own learning in their higher education programs” (p.1). As a result bad habits can persist for years, particularly in the use of visual material, which is often seen as an appendage to a lecture even being used superficially to take the focus off the speaker. This chapter focuses on revaluating the educational purpose for integrating visual material into teaching and learning activities in higher education and discusses the author’s recent research into visual literacy and learning styles. It argues that academics should be aware of their student’s dominant learning style and visual literacy levels so that when they use visual material in teaching they make an informed decision about which teaching method and learning activity to utilize. For as Hawk and Shah (2007) suggested faculties “are likely to reach only some of the students in a given course if they assume that all students learn the same way or that one teaching approach will connect with all students” (p.2). When it comes to using visual material to illustrate a point, as the disciplinary focus or to reinforce the concepts presented in a lecture, it is difficult to find suggestions or evidence to support the selection of a particular teaching method to support each student’s individual learning style. It is however widely acknowledged in the literature the importance of developing student’s visual literacy skills (Levie, 1978; Sless, 1984; Seels, 1994; Rakes, 1999; Romice, 2000) with general belief that “as teachers we should concentrate and exploit the visual sense through the nurturing and development of visual literacy” (Avgerinou & Ericson, 1997, p.287). There has been a number of early studies that have examined the encoding and retrieval of information from pictures (Friedman & Bourne, 1976; Kunen, Green & Waterman, 1979; Mandler & Johnson, 1976; Mandler & Ritchey, 1977). With the premise that if this skill is developed students will ‘see’ what we as educators want them to ‘see’ hence learn what we want them to learn, the onus being on the student’s ability to learn
Examining Ways to Improve Visual Teaching Materials
3
these skills. Many academics cannot agree on what visual literacy skills are or how they should be taught, hence this has become a highly neglected area in higher education. According to Bleed (2005) visual literacy provides educators with “an opportunity to connect with learners and enhance the quality of their learning”, he believes that: “visual literacy deserves a significant focus in higher education” (p.10). However, in some domains visual material is considered almost irrelevant, for example Schonborn and Anderson (2006) suggested that the “pedagogical importance of visual literacy and visualization in the education of biochemists has been ignored for far too long” (p101). In order to explain this area further it is necessary to investigate what the literature says about visual literacy and in particular what this means to how educators use visual material to promote student learning in higher education. Understanding both the visual literacy levels as well as the predominant learning styles of students provides a basis for improving visual material in higher education. The following section provides a review of the literature relating to both visual literacy and predominant learning styles. This is followed by a description of the methodology and the results of a study that focused on visual literacy levels as well as predominant learning styles among higher education design students. Finally, suggestions are provided for improving the use of visual material for promoting learning in higher education.
WHAT IS VISUAL LITERACY AND HOW DO WE TEACH IT? In generic terms, visual literacy has been defined as the ability to read visuals. It is also considered to be a universal attribute that is developed through acquiring a set of principles used for reading visual form (Boughton, 1986). The International Visual Literacy Association, an organization dedicated to the research, study and publication of visual literacy material, use the following extract from Fransecky and Debes, (1972) to define visual literacy as: "a group of vision competencies a human being can develop by seeing and at the same time having and integrating other sensory experiences. The development of these competencies is fundamental to normal human learning. When developed, they enable a visually literate person to discriminate and interpret the visual actions, objects, and/or symbols, natural or man-made, that are [encountered] in [the] environment. Through the creative use of these competencies, [we are] able to communicate with others. Through the appreciative use of these competencies, [we are] able to comprehend and enjoy the masterworks of visual communications" (p. 7).
Fransecky and Debes (1972) statement above might assist us towards explaining broadly what a visually literate person is capable of doing but provides few clues as to how as educators we can go about trying to develop these skills in our students. In fact there has been some scepticism from the psychological and linguistics research tradition about the concept that one must be taught to see and that we can teach this skill (Cassidy & Knowlton, 1983). The premise was put forward that how “can we teach a competency in which there are no identifiable elements or identifiable rules?” (Cassidy & Knowlton, 1983, p.72).
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Broadly speaking it can be agreed upon that to be visually literate one has to develop the ability to ‘read’ and comprehend what is seen, and have the ability to generate material that has to be seen to be understood (Wileman, 1980). Similarly Giorgis, Johnson, Bonomo & Colbert (1999), defined visual literacy as the “ability to construct meaning from visual images” (p.146). For the viewer to find meaning for example in an art image or design object, they need to comprehend basic elements of a universal visual language. Visual literacy is the semantics branch of linguistics, which encompasses not only the reading of visual forms but also the ability to place meaning onto the visual image. Boughton in 1986 described two types of visual literacy. Firstly, visual (artistic) literacy, where the focus is confined to the study of art and secondly, visual (aesthetic) literacy where the visual world is studied through the framework of various theories of aesthetics, where aesthetics is regarded as the appreciation of beauty. This narrow disciplinary focus assists with teaching visual literacy skills to art and design students however for other disciplines such as science both artistic and aesthetic visual literacy are irrelevant as the focus is on comprehending the key concepts or processes that the diagram, illustration, graph etc. are illustrating. In many cases visuals are used to replace words so their ability to communicate this information in visual form is paramount. Demystifying the process of comprehending these visual images relies heavily on the educator’s ability to explain each element or symbol represented. As Cunliffe (1992) suggested when discussing reading expressive images, a visually literate person has “a working knowledge of symbols” (p.149) and can distinguish visual subtleties. In order to be relevant to our 21st century student, the skills required to become a visually literate person need to be conceivable in practice, relative to the visual world, not only within the disciplinary context, but also within daily life. According to Kintgen (1988) the aim of visual literacy is to explain semiotic systems that provide meaning to the visual world as well as to enable people to use those systems for effective communication. The term semiotics comes from the fields of linguistics and anthropology. Semiotics provides an alternate means of conveying meaning as opposed to words in written or verbal language. Semiotics is the systematic study of signs and symbols to represent written language such as a road sign that communicates the road rules via universally recognisable symbols. According to Raney (1999), claiming pictures are similar in kind to words is equivalent to saying that to be visually literate is to see and understand the visual world in general, rather than to comprehend pictures based on an authorized body of knowledge. As educators we need to develop students comprehension skills of visual material just as we are committed to developing their verbal and written skills within the discipline. There are also autonomous models of visual literacy that apply the term to comprehension of the visual world in general, such as that of Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) who claim that “visual literacy will begin to be a matter of survival in the workplace” (p.3), where visual information technology is prevalent. As educators we need to acknowledge that in the e-learning multimedia world of the 21st century students “need to be able to think critically about and manipulate visual information and make solid interpretation of its meaning” (Rakes, 1999, p.14), it can not be taken for granted that students already have an innate ability to do this, this skill needs to be taught and practiced. An early study by Lockhart, Craik and Jocoby (1976) suggested that the visual presentation of words (typeface, size, colour etc), does not influence the meaning which the words convey, for they found that readers had remembered semantic meaning not structural information such as presentation of the text. Similar to verbal language, visual forms are also
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coded in syntax, roughly equivalent to spoken communication (Boughton, 1986). Dondis (1973) took the basic elements, namely dot, line, shape, direction, tone, colour, texture, dimension, scale and movement and compared these to linguistic grammar and syntax to provide a similarity. The purpose of comparing visual elements to language structures is an attempt to make visual communication transparent and easy to comprehend. Instructional design should follow this ‘user friendly’ philosophy breaking down the process of understanding the visual material by providing information on a ‘need to know’ basis scaffolding the learning process so that simple concepts are dealt with first, repeated, then practiced and tested before moving on to more complex issues. According to Koroscik (1982), who studied the complexities of visual art processing specifically in relation to the characteristics of pictorial information processing, prior knowledge, the amount of time allocated to studying the artwork, and the level of the task demanded, all affected student’s ability to learn visual material. Koroscik (1982) study also found that remembering information was influenced by the length of time that was spent viewing the art examples, as other studies indicate (Craik & Lockhart, 1972). Koroscik (1982) claims that participants who had 4.5 minutes to respond to an artwork remembered significantly more than those given 1.5 minutes. This result may seam obvious, but what was interesting was that the type of information that was remembered did not differ significantly, with structural information (or formal qualities) remembered before semantic information (its meaning). Koroscik (1982) suggested that as a result of the need to provide longer viewing times for effective learning, that “one might question the traditional practice of displaying large collections of artworks to students in slide presentations. Students might be better served if classroom viewing activities provided for the detailed examination of a smaller number of artworks” (p.21). Across the disciplines educators should endeavour to provide students with visual instructional material that keeps written information to a minimum and uses the structural information wisely to assist towards comprehending the examples rather than for effect.
THE BALANCING ACT BETWEEN THE VISUAL , VERBAL AND WRITTEN When presenting visual material to students in higher education commonly as educators we feel obliged to explain them, add our opinion of them and ask questions about them after all what are we being paid to do? Providing ‘quiet time’ for students to contemplate a visual example may seam an obvious thing to do but so often as educators we feel obliged to use them to verbally reinforce or illustrate a point. Some studies have in fact found however, that asking students the appropriate questions about the visual examples can enhance their learning. For example a study by Adler (1993) found that asking students ‘why’ or ‘what’ questions about pictures was useful. In Adler’s (1993) experiment participants were given different directions to assist them in processing representational pictures of water safety and rescue in order to examine their effects on student’s recall of text information. In this study Adler (1993) found that participants who were asked to elaborate via ‘what’ and ‘why’ questioning on the representational pictures had a better recall of the text information than participants given no explicit directions at all, some explicit directions (e.g. ‘How many
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objects are in the picture?’) and semantic elaboration (e.g. ‘Specifically, how does the picture relate to the text’). In contrast, in the discipline of science, Iding (1997) discovered that asking students questions on scientific diagrams in a textbook was not beneficial to learning. In this study questions were either used to replace the figure captions on the illustrations or were placed directly into the text. Iding (1997) placed her findings in cognitive load theory terms stating that: “questions about illustrations might cause cognitive resources to be unnecessarily and deleteriously expended in the text-diagram integration process” (p.22). Weidenmann (1989) argued that ‘good pictures fail’ for pictures are often viewed as ‘easy’ material in textbooks so learners usually only examine them superficially. Hence studies such as those conducted by Mayer (1989) and Mayer and Gallini (1990) have investigated extensively the usefulness of adjunct illustrations to text and found that this method was an effective tool for facilitating students’ understanding of scientific explanation. Levin and Mayer (1993) found that the more complex the text the more useful illustrations become. Mayer and Gallini (1990) have also suggested that where learners were inexperienced in the content domain, illustrations were an effective tool for learning difficult material. Similarly, Schoborn and Anderson (2006) assert that “visualisation is an essential skill for all students and biochemists studying and researching the molecular and cellular biosciences” (p.94). They provided impelling evidence for modifying visual teaching material and ten guidelines for promoting visualisation and visual literacy among students. Feldman (1986) said that a passive viewer cannot react to visual images with critical understanding and “to be visually illiterate is to be ‘un-free’ in the sense that the individual is a victim of the persuasive devices, or rhetoric of visual communication” (Boughton quotes Feldman, 1986, p.135). Feldman (1986) said that a passive viewer cannot react to visual images with critical understanding and “to be visually illiterate is to be ‘un-free’ in the sense that the individual is a victim of the persuasive devices, or rhetoric of visual communication” (Boughton quotes Feldman, 1986, p.135). This may apply to the critiquing of art or design images however in other disciplines where interpretations are limited and objectivity comes into play students need firstly to learn the rhetoric of the discipline before more creative thinking can be applied. Ausburn and Ausburn (1978) found that the “superficiality of pupils’ comprehension of much of what they view, suggests that higher order visual literacy skills do not develop unless they are identified and taught” (p.288). As educators we need to specifically draw student’s attention to what we want them to remember of each visual example while allowing for the fact that they can become distracted or even overwhelmed by the complexity of the image. Any visual material used for instruction needs to be therefore reduced in complexity particularly for novices learning new material thus emphasizing the information they need to remember. A ‘less is more’ approach works particularly well when presenting students with graphs, figures or diagrams. Even with complex art or design images, as educators we need to direct the student’s attention towards studying specifics in order to limit the amount of information they have to deal with in the limited capacity of their short-term or working memory. When it comes to art and design Feinstein (1982) suggested that in order to represent an image pictorially one must have “some knowledge of the visual symbol systems, its vocabulary, concept, conventions, and some technical skills to manipulate art material” (p.46). All this acquired knowledge and experience combines together in the visually literate
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individual. One of the roles of the art and design educator is to teach the skill and knowledge of reading visual images. One way of achieving this is too reduce the complexity of visual images as mentioned but also to provide easy access to the language. Students need to be taught the disciplinary language used to describe the visual example along side developing their own interpretations and understandings. Learning does not happen in a vacuum, past knowledge and experience comes into play in the learning process. As educators we need to facilitate the connection between what students already know along side what new information they need to learn. Students should be provided with experiences in education to promote visual literacy skills so that the messages in visuals can be critically read and understood for there is the belief that pictures are “surpassing text in their ability to record, transmit, and create new knowledge” (Blystone, 1992, p.1). This may be so for the visually literate student, however there are many students who are not predominately visual learners who find it extremely difficult to understand and remember information presented only in visual form, which will be discussed in detail later.
THE BALANCING ACT BETWEEN WHAT TO LEAVE AND WHAT TO REMOVE Deciding as educators what to present to students and what to leave out is often a balancing act, particularly whether to use a combination of visual, verbal or written instruction or to simple use a discovery learning approach. Since the 1960’s, discovery learning, an exploratory-based procedure has been widely promoted as an effective teaching methodology and learning strategy (Ausubel, 1961; Bruner, 1966; Cronbach, 1966; Wittrock, 1966). Discovery learning assumes that the process of problem-solving search is beneficial to learning. Intervention from the teacher is only recommended in discovery learning when assistance is needed in the search process. The concept behind discovery learning is that learning techniques should promote active knowledge construction as opposed to passive knowledge reception (Sweller, 1999; Tuovinen & Sweller 1999). According to Sweller (1988) ‘learning by doing’ is a problem-solving strategy that is largely unrelated to the cognitive process of schema acquisition. Schemas or information networks consist of concepts that are building blocks of knowledge in a hierarchical network of lower order or less complex information units to higher order or more complex information units. Cognitive load theory assumes that some learning environments impose a higher information processing load on limited working memory resources because they do not take into account its limited capacity for storing, processing and retrieving information (Sweller, 2003). It suggests that many instructional procedures impose a heavy cognitive load not because of the intrinsic nature of the material being learnt but because of the way the material is presented or activities that are required of the learner (Bobis, Sweller & Cooper, 1993). This theory addresses the fact that the primary function of learning is schema construction and automation and that the process of learning may be jeopardized if some of the limited resources of working memory are not directly related to schema construction and automation (Kalyuga, Chandler, Tuovinen & Sweller, 2001). When processing “schemas
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reduce cognitive load by permitting us to ignore most of the information impinging on our senses” (Sweller & Chandler, 1994, p.187). Kalyuga, Chandler and Sweller (1998) hypothesised that information should be structured to eliminate any avoidable load on working memory and that the appropriate type of structure may depend on the learner’s level of expertise. When diagrams and text are used in instructional material they found that the less expert learners required this information to be physically integrated. When instructional material physically integrates diagrams and text, the novice learner does not need to mentally integrate the material so split-attention is avoided and the load on working memory is reduced. “The split-attention effect provides one example of the consequences of inappropriate cognitive activities caused by poor instructional design” (Chandler & Sweller, 1992, p.233). There are also many other studies on the adverse effects that split-attention has on learning instruction (Sweller, Chandler, Tiernery & Cooper, 1990; Tarmizi & Sweller, 1988; Ward & Sweller, 1990; Mousavi, Low & Sweller, 1995). For the experienced learners, the Kalyuga, Chandler and Sweller (1998) study found that the same diagram was intelligible without the text. For the more expert learner who had previous knowledge of the material, the elimination of redundant text rather than the integration of the text with diagrams reduced cognitive load. The redundancy effect occurs when redundant material is eliminated which results in a better performance than when the redundant material is retained (e.g Bobis, Sweller & Cooper, 1993; Chandler & Sweller, 1991; 1996; Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars, & Tapangco, 1996).
VISUAL LITERACY AND MEMORY According to Solso (2003) the first stage in perceiving art is largely independent of conscious control and we all ‘see’ essentially the same elements of shapes, colours, and patterns as well as organization of forms. The second stage in comprehending art is ‘directed perception’ where one’s personal history and knowledge provides an insight into the artwork. Schnotz (2002) has stated that picture comprehension was “based on a specific interplay between visual perception and higher order cognitive processing” (p.110). According to Schnotz (2002), in picture comprehension the viewer “constructs multiple mental representations” (p.105). These include a ‘surface structure’ representation that corresponds to the visual image of the picture in the viewer’s mind. Then the viewer constructs through semantic processing a ‘mental model’ that represents the content seen in the picture on the basis of common structural characteristics between the picture and its referential content. Mental models are not attached to specific sensory modalities; they are essentially indistinguishable from schemas. A mental model from a picture is abstracted, so it contains less information than the corresponding visual image and irrelevant pictorial details included in the visual image are omitted from the mental model. Mental models of course can contain more information than the corresponding visual image as it includes prior knowledge not included in the visual perception. According to Arnheim, (1969) visual “knowledge acquired in the past helps not only in detecting the nature of an object or action appearing in a visual field; it also assigns the present object a place in the system of things” (p.90). Another mental representation that the viewer constructs for comprehension of a picture that Schnotz (2002) suggested is the ‘propositional’ or descriptive representation.
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Propositional representations include information that is read from the model, which is encoded in the format of symbolic representation or descriptions in language form (Chafe, 1994). According to Baddeley, (1992) there is a continuous interaction between the propositional representation and the mental model. Another mental representation constructed by the viewer to assist with visual comprehension is the ‘communication level’, which represents the practical context of the pictorial communication and finally the ‘genre level’ represents knowledge about the class of pictures and their corresponding functions (Schnotz, 2002). Schnotz (2002) stated that the perceptual images created in picture comprehension are sensory specific because they link to visual modality and semantic processing is needed to understand a picture as opposed to just perceiving it. According to Kosslyn (1994) the proximity of these images to perception relates to the notion that visual images and visual perceptions are based on the same cognitive mechanism. Ullman (1984) stated that in perceptual processing, domain specific information is selected from cognitive schemata, which is then visually organized through automated visual routines. A number of studies have investigated ‘visual sketchpads’, which are the viewer’s mental representation of a visual perception of a picture in the imagery part of working memory (e.g. Baddeley, 1992, Sims & Hegarty, 1997). Schnotz (2002) argued that when text processing occurs first before visual processing, most of the capacity of working memory is used leaving little capacity for processing the related pictures. Schnotz (2002) also suggested that a visual image or mental model constructed only from text is likely to differ from the picture presented afterwards, which can interfere with the comprehension of the picture. So according to Schnotz (2002) processing the picture first requires little space in working memory which has a limited capacity, thus leaving enough space for processing text. Schnotz’s (2002) theory could not be applied to the visually complex images of art and design, hence simplifying and physically combining visuals and text would be a more effective method. Mentally combining multiple pieces of information can result in less efficient attainment of information than if the learner was presented the same material in a physically integrated form as previously explained (Mousavi, Low & Sweller, 1995). There is also the argument that working memory capacity may be extended by a dual mode presentation of information. It is easier to learn information, according to Cooper (1998) “when some of the information is presented visually and the remainder of the information is presented auditorily than it is when all of the information is presented through a single sense” (p.5). Potter (1976; 1993) suggested that when many visuals are shown in rapid continuous presentation, unrelated pictures are momentarily comprehended then immediately forgotten. Potter (1993) argued that although pictures are ‘grasped’, conceptual processing initiated by the next new picture in the sequence interrupts consolidation in memory. Potter (1999) hypothesised that when a stimulus is identified, it’s meaning is rapidly activated and maintained briefly in conceptual short-term memory. CSTM is a processing and memory system that is, according to Potter (1999), different from visual (iconic) memory, conventional short-term memory and long-term memory in three respects: firstly, the rapidity with which the stimuli reaches a meaningful level of representation; secondly, the rapid structuring of these representations and thirdly, immediate forgetting of information that is not structured or otherwise consolidated.
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Structuring in CSTM ranges from grouping of visuals based on meaning to the more complex semantic interpretation. “Organizing or structuring of new stimuli enhances memory of them” (Potter, 1999, p.13). Intraub (1999) conducted a series of experiments that tested recognition memory under a variety of time limits. She discovered that as long as viewers were given some time between pictorial presentations, there was good recognition memory for briefly glimpsed pictures. The aforementioned studies provide evidence to support the objective that in art education when multiple pictures are presented adequate time should be provided so that the viewer has sufficient time to absorb the pictorial detail. According to Solso (2003) ‘prototypes’ can be used in art to assist with the recognition of the central visual characteristics of the work. Solso (2003) discussed “prototypes as the abstractions of stimuli against which patterns are judged” stating that “it is possible, and far more economical, to store impressions that embody the most frequently experienced features of a class of objects” (p.230). He suggested that to conceptualise art and understand the classification of art periods and individual artists’ styles, the process of forming cognitive categories in the form of both personal and knowledge schemata is the predominate way art knowledge is stored in long-term memory. According to Solso (2003), from the experience of viewing a typical exemplar of an art period, the viewer forms a general impression of the style, so when another work of the period is viewed it can be immediately ‘recognized’ as belonging to the same period as the ‘prototype’. Solso (2003) stated that: “the formation of a prototypical memory is accomplished through perception of features that are recombined in memory” (p.233). In order for educators to use visual exemplars effectively, it “requires sufficient understanding of how the human cognitive systems interacts” (Schnotz, 2002, p.114) with the visual stimuli. A number of studies have ascertained that instructional design that includes both verbal and pictorial information should be presented in a coherent manner with some semantic overlap (e.g. Carney & Levin, 2002; Mayer & Gallini, 1990). Well-designed instructional material should provide interconnection between verbal and visual information so that they enter working memory simultaneously (Schnotz, 2002). One method that assists with this process is the use of semantic cues, which can facilitate transfer by assisting the viewer in finding connections between the artwork’s characteristics and the viewer’s prior knowledge (Koroscik, Short, Stavropoulos & Fortin, 1992).
SEMANTIC CUES AND MEMORY RETRIEVAL There has been a number of studies on reading comprehension that have demonstrated that readers often examine the surrounding text for semantic cues (Bransford & Johnson, 1972; Carnine, Kameenui & Coyle, 1984). A study by Warren and Horne (1982) discovered that students’ comprehension of pictures could be influenced by contextual cues. In order to make use of their cognitive resources, learners must find meaningful connections between their existing knowledge and whatever they are attempting to understand as discussed previously (Prawat, 1989). Instructional design used in the disciplines of art and design, that includes semantic cues to assist students to make appropriate links between their previous knowledge and the material to be learnt, can assist with memory retrieval.
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Koroscik, Short, Stavropoulos and Fortin (1992) hypothesised that verbal cues might assist students to connect the characteristics of an artwork with their own previously acquired domain specific knowledge. Their study investigated the contextual variables that influenced the comprehension of a work of art. This study used verbal contextual conditions of cues and non-cues to demonstrate whether students required explicit verbal prompts to discover relationships among works of art. Using both a multiple-choice matching test and an openended writing task, the results showed that verbal cues prompt students to elaborate on possible art meanings. Koroscik, et al. (1992), found that student’s who were provided with an art context, scrutinize the artworks for common features to discover comparative relationships between the artworks. They also found that students who were given verbal cues synthesized their ideas better and constructed more elaborate meanings about the artworks, than those who were not cued. The students who were given the verbal cues also had fewer misunderstandings about the artworks. The students who were not given the verbal cues used broader search strategies, which proved to be a less effective approach than the teacher directed method. There is some evidence that retrieval cues are important for recall and it has been discovered that these cues should be present when the material is first presented to the learner (e.g. Perkins & Salomon, 1988; Tulving & Osler, 1968). Semantic cues direct the viewer’s attention to key ideas, which can assist with retrieval of information from long-term memory by linking prior knowledge to information that needs to be learnt. “We achieve understanding of the world through actively finding meaning which we test against our existing schemata” (Cunliffe, 1992, p.143). The semantic cue maybe used to infer a metaphor in art and design and the role of the educator is to use semantic cues to provide better access to the meaning of the work and eliminate confusions and misunderstandings. According to Feinstein (1982), the use of metaphors in art urges the viewer to look beyond the literal meaning of the work in order to generate associations and deeper levels of meaning. “The metaphoric process reorganizes and vivifies; it paradoxically condenses and expands; it synthesizes often disparate meanings” (p.45). Langer (1957) philosophised that to understand experience, one must first abstract it and transform the experience into symbols. Metaphor in art has a symbol-making function which is where a decision is made that one thing shall stand for another (Ortony, 1975; Feinstein, 1982). According to Cunliffe (1992), all “works of art symbolise. There are no works of art without symbols. Some will denote or represent. Others will express or exemplify” (p.150). Symbols are invented when a group of people agree that an object, event or idea, shall stand for another. Symbols are therefore dependant on context and culture. When symbols are created in art and design, a transformation has taken place. Through symbolic transformation the viewer attempts to comprehend, construct and convey artistic meaning (Feinstein, 1982). According to Cunliffe (1992), what “is required when reading and making works of art is to try to understand the visual code that is being used and how this relates to the purpose or function of the work of art” (p.149). Koroscik, et al. (1992) suggested that educators “should provide comparative contexts and explicit verbal cues when depth of understanding is preferred over breadth” (p.163). They also recommended, as previously mentioned, that educators should not expect students to discover meaningful or accurate ideas about an artwork without teacher direction and input. Koroscik, et al. (1992) advocated that if effective search strategies are used, but the students lack the domain specific knowledge, then they will have difficulty comprehending the
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artwork. The Koroscik, et al. (1992) study concluded that educators should base art comparisons on key ideas that have some connection to students’ existing knowledge. As Cunliffe (1992) stated: “finding ways for students to acquire new schemata should be seen as the purpose of art education” (p.145), and providing access to comprehending pictures via semantic cues is one method of demystifying the complex images of art and design which should assist the learner to acquire schemas. Semantic cues can be used in other disciplinary areas where the visual example requires further verbal explanation that cannot be frugally represented by visual form alone. In order to effectively use semantic cues either verbally or in written form, educators need to have some knowledge of what differentiates a novice learner from an art expert as well as all the levels in between, which will be discussed in the next section. Across the disciplines tertiary educators need to consider adapting their teaching methods and instructional material to take into account different student’s levels of understanding of the key concepts being taught, which can varying widely particularly when it comes to learning via visual examples which as previously mentioned, could advantage the visual learner.
EXPERT-NOVICE DIFFERENCES IN UNDERSTANDING VISUAL MATERIAL The use of the term ‘literacy’ in visual literacy suggests that comprehending visual material is an active process that takes time. It takes time, visual literacy skills and domain specific knowledge, to develop the expertise required to fully understand and appreciate the visual arts. Chase and Simon (1973) in their influential theory on chess expertise proposed that it takes ten years to become an expert in a domain specific area such as chess. It also takes deliberate practice to become an expert (Ericsson, Krampe & Tesch-Romer, 1993; Ericsson & Charness, 1994). Ericsson (1996) suggested that in the arts, a panel of experts or judges, rank the quality of individual performances or special achievements and the highest level of achievement is having the artefact, such as a painting, recognized as a masterpiece or a major creative innovation. Bloom (1985) suggested that the training of expert performers could be classified into three phases. The first phase is where individuals are introduced to systematic practice in the domain. In the second phase, teachers present the novices with basic training tasks and they guide them towards focusing their attention on the critical aspects of the task in order to make specific changes and corrections. During this process, the teacher monitors their performance and provides feedback. As the complexity of the task increases, so does the practice task and goal. According to Bloom (1985), in phase three, some individuals have reached the point where they have made the decision to commit full-time to the domain and make it their professional career. At this point they are able to monitor their own performance. Ericsson, Krampe and Heizmann (1993) added a fourth phase to Bloom’s (1985) three phases for training expert performance. In the fourth phase, according to Ericsson, et al. (1993), the primary goal is to make a substantial personal creative contribution to the domain. In this phase, experts redefine the current boundaries of a domain of expertise. This expert performance view preserves the notion that training is a necessary prerequisite to major innovation (Ericsson & Charness, 1994; Ericsson, 1996).
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In order to develop expertise in the disciplines of art and design, educators need to first assist students in acquiring the skills needed to comprehend relevant examples of art and design. Educators should provide learning opportunities that assist the learner to assimilate their prior knowledge to any new knowledge in order to promote schema acquisition that can assist with comprehension. Studies in art education have found that comprehension of art is reliant on both the nature of the visual stimulus and the viewer’s cognitive structures or existing knowledge (Koroscik, 1982; Koroscik, Desmond & Brandon, 1985). According to the constructive theorist DiSibio (1982), comprehension is a cognitive process that requires the activation of an individual’s prior knowledge. Koroscik, Desmond and Brandon (1985), have suggested that comprehending art involves a complex interplay between encoding its formal qualities and its semantic characteristics, as indicated previously. According to Raney (1999), critical understanding, that most experts possess, requires guided study and discussion and ‘informed judgement’. Raney (1999) suggested that there were three kinds of visual literacy that can be applied to art education. The first identified was ‘perceptual sensitivity’ which is the perception all sighted people have which can be sharpened by education. A second kind of visual literacy, Raney (1999) identified was ‘cultural habit’, where people are predisposed to see in certain ways, which varies according to what they have been exposed to. The third kind of visual literacy, which has to do with ‘critical knowledge’, includes “knowledge of the ways the visual images have been used throughout history, awareness of different kind of intentionality, of how an image, object or event is put together to offer a particular experience” (p.45). An art expert can comprehend most art without difficulty, as they have developed a high level of perceptual sensitivities, have had direct experience with a variety of art within a variety of contexts and they have acquired critical knowledge of art history and theory. Prawat (1989) suggested that it was important that educators consider both the structure of the discipline as well as the cognitive structure of expert learners in that particular discipline. According to Prawat (1989) students should be provided with the concepts and principles that are most likely to promote domain specific expert competence. Expert performance is acquired gradually. In order for students to improve their performance in an art related discipline, they will depend on the teacher’s ability to provide a series of simple training tasks that the students can successfully master by repetition, while being provided with feedback and instruction (Ericsson, Krampe & Tesch-Romer, 1993).
RECOGNIZING STUDENTS DIFFERENT VISUAL LITERACY LEVELS Learners with fairly low visual literacy levels usually have a limited grasp of the disciplinary language required to describe a visual example (Koroscik et al. (1992). They can however recognize the formal (structural) qualities of a visual image, which is expressed using basic descriptive language (Koroscik, 1982). These learners have difficulty comprehending visual subtleties or as Raney (1999) would suggest lack ‘perceptual sensitivity’ hence they provide superficial answers to questions as well as irrelevant observational points about visual examples. Learners with a low level of visual literacy have
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difficulty decoding or interpreting visual messages successfully and also to encode or compose meaningful visual messages that visual literate persons are able to do according to Ausburn and Ausburn (1978). They can require longer viewing time to study most visual material (Koroscik, 1982). These learners require repeat focused instruction about the visual image in order to improve their visual comprehension skills as these learners often loose focus and are easily distracted if the main points to be learnt are not made obvious to them. Learners who have developed further in their visual literacy skills from the level described previously, usually have developed some appropriate disciplinary language and are able to pick up some semantic (meaning) information (Kintgen, 1988) from the visual example as well as have the ability to describe a given images visual subtleties. These learners are able to provide textbook answer to questions about the visual example and have the ability to focus on relevant details of a visual image. They require minimal instruction to perform a task that involves comprehending visual images and are able to see relevant similarities as well as differences between visual images when comparing them. They have acquired the ability to connect new knowledge to past knowledge that was acquired from focused domain specific study (Prawat, 1989). When analyzing a visual example, learners with medium level visual literacy skills are able to provide a variety of viewpoints about the visual example as well as see relevant points beyond those that may seam obvious. These learners can discriminate and interpret well a visual image (Rakes, 1999) after they have received instruction. Learners with high visual literacy skills are usually high achievers in their final year of study or Postgraduate students who have studied a visual discipline. They have a solid understanding of the disciplinary language of the discipline (Rakes, 1999) and are adept at applying the appropriate language to the situation. Learners with high visual literacy skills have developed comprehension skills to a high level, and have developed “higher order cognitive processing” (Schnotz, 2002) skills. These learners have a highly analytical understanding of the visual subtleties in images and have acquired “a knowledge of visual symbol systems” (Feinstein, 1982, p.46). They are able to add to the existing knowledge of the subject in an innovative manner with minimal instruction. These learners are quick to recognize the significance of both the similarities and differences between visual images and they usually have developed a high level of appreciation and aesthetic awareness. Not only can these learners problem-solve and think critically (Fleming & Levie, 1993) about visual information they also have a solid interpretation of the visual images meaning (Rakes, 1999). Many students may never reach this level of expertise having survived the higher education system cruising at the lowest level or still achieving well using a medium level of visual literacy skill that most tasks in higher education require although achievement levels are higher in specialized disciplines that train visual thinkers.
LEARNING STYLE MODELS DEFINED Learning is a complex human process and a range of theories and models exist that attempt to describe and explain this phenomenon. The term learning style, which is generally considered to comprise cognitive styles, instructional preferences and learning strategies, has
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been defined as “an individual’s characteristic and preferred ways of gathering, organising, and thinking about information” (Fleming, 2001, p.1). Gardner’s (1983) theory of multiple intelligences suggests that a range of influences and factors impact on the learning experience, and the complexity of leaning is reflected in the diversity of current learning theories and models. A systematic review of learning style models conducted in 2004 identified 71 learning style models, which have evolved in the UK, USA and Western Europe (Coffield, Moseley, Hall & Ecclestone, 2004). These models, which have emerged across diverse fields including psychology, education, sociology and business studies, can be further categorised into three sub-categories: pedagogical, theoretical and commercial. Underpinning each learning style model is a marginally different set of assumptions as well as varying definitions of key constructs, prompting Coffield et al (2004) to note that a unified definition of learning style is lacking within the literature. Subcategories of learning style models include the following. a. b. c. d. e.
Learning styles related to genetic or constitutionally based factors; Learning styles linked to cognitive features and structures; Learning styles as a component of stable personality types; Learning styles that reflect flexibly stable learning preferences; Learning approaches, strategies and orientations (Coffield et al, 2004).
Within each of these sub-categories, learning style models tend to have a different focus with some resting on ideas relating to cognitive functioning while others focussing on personality traits or intellectual abilities. Learning style models also tend to vary in terms of predicted stability; that is, whether the learning style remains fixed over time or whether it evolves and changes.
KEY LEARNING STYLE MODELS Of the 71 learning style models reviewed by Coffield et al (2004), thirteen were identified as key learning style models. These met specific selection criteria that included whether the learning style model was influential or potentially influential; whether the inherent claims were supported by empirical evidence; whether the link between learning style model and students’ learning was supported by empirical evidence and whether the model had broad implications for pedagogy. The key learning style models identified by Coffield et al (2004) are as follows. a) Genetic and constitutionally based factors learning style models: 1. Gregorc’s mind styles model and style delineator ; 2. The Dunn and Dunn model; b) Cognitive structures based learning style models: 3. Riding’s model of cognitive style and Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA);
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Arianne Rourke and Zena O’Connor c) Stable personality types: 4. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI); 5. Apter’s reversal theory of motivational styles, Motivational Style Profile (MSP); 6. Jackson’s Learning Style Profiler (LSP); d) Flexibly stable learning preferences: 7. Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI); 8. Honey and Mumford’s Learning Style Questionnaire (LSQ); 9. The Hermann ‘whole brain’ model and the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI); 10. Allinson and Hayes’ Cognitive Style Index (CSI); e) Learning approaches and strategies: 11. Entwistle’s approaches and study skills inventory for students (ASSIST); 12. Vermunt’s frameworks for classifying learning styles and his Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS); 13. Sternberg’s theory of thinking styles and his Thinking Styles Inventory (TSI).
In addition to providing a theoretical framework of the learning process, each of the key learning style models feature an assessment or measurement instrument that includes various learning style descriptors, measures and assessment outcomes. In their comprehensive review of key learning style models, Coffield et al (2004) also provide a thorough examination of each of these measurement instruments which includes an assessment of the measurement instrument and assessment process in terms of reliability and validity as well empirical evidence of pedagogical impact.
VAK AND VARK LEARNING MODALITY-SPECIFIC MODELS In addition to the assessment instruments of the thirteen key learning style models discussed above, a number of modality-specific questionnaires exist. These focus on assessing or measuring modality-specific strengths and weakness in terms of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic processing that are considered to influence the learning process (Coffield et al, 2004; Rourke et al, 2002). For example, the VARK questionnaire, developed by Fleming (2001) provides a measure of visual, auditory, read/write and kinaesthetic modalities. Fleming’s findings suggest that 41% of participants, who completed the questionnaire online, have single style preferences; 27% two preferences, 9% three and 21% had a preference for all styles. Similarly, the self-administered VAK test devised by Chislett and Chapman (2005) has been used to assess students’ predominant learning style in terms of three modalities: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. The VAK test “deals with perceptual modes. It focuses on the different ways we take in and give out information. The only perceptual modes, or senses, it does not address are taste and smell” (Hawk & Shah, 2007, p.6). An additional benefit of the VAK test is that as it can be self-administered, allowing participants to complete the
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questionnaire and then score themselves thereby gaining an indication of the strengths and weaknesses across the three learning modalities.
LEARNING STYLE MODELS: IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATORS AND LEARNERS An understanding about students’ learning styles is critical for educators in terms of developing learning programs that are productive and effective for all students. However, during the design and development of learning programs, educators often make the “assumption that learners exhibit uniformity in the ways in which they process and organise information (cognitive styles), in their predispositions towards particular learning formats and media (instructional preferences) and the conscious actions employed to deal with demands of specific learning situations (learning strategies)” (Sadler-Smith, 2004, p.395). An understanding about individual learning styles is also crucial from the learner’s perspective as research indicates that high student performance occurs in learning activities that match student’s learning style (Fleming, 2001). According to Sadler-Smith and Smith (2004), a key element in the learning process “lies in the individual becoming aware of her or his preferred style. This depends upon the opportunity being made available for an individual to learn about their own style, but also the predisposition of the learner to be motivated to become self-aware and to behave in flexible and different ways when circumstances demand it” (Sadler-Smith & Smith, 2004, p.407). A number of objections have been raised in regard to learning styles and the first of these has to do with criticism of specific aspects or features of learning style models and/or measurement instruments. Another key objection relates to the quantitative nature of learning style models and measurement instruments, with detractors suggesting that a quantitative approach is inappropriate and espousing a qualitative approach instead. The commercialisation of some learning style models and measurement instruments has also provided cause for objection, as has the prominence accorded to learning style models by some practitioners. Despite these objections, learning style models and measurement instruments provide a useful insight for educators when developing teaching and learning programmes.
VISUAL LITERACY AND LEARNING STYLE MODALITIES STUDY Research Aim The study focused on two key aims: firstly to examine levels of visual literacy among undergraduate design students; secondly to identify the predominant learning modality among undergraduate design students in relation to the categories of visual learners, auditory learners and kinaesthetic learners. The occurrence of high visual literacy levels among undergraduate design students is a reasonable assumption but remains an untested hypothesis. In addition, a preponderance of visually inclined learners among undergraduate design students also seems
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a reasonable assumption but is also hypothetical. Gaining an understanding of visual literacy levels and predominant learning styles among undergraduate design students will provide teachers with the opportunity to modify and match their teaching strategies to the learning environment. Therefore, the hypotheses of this study were: firstly that visual literacy levels are relatively high and stable among undergraduate design students; secondly that the predominant learning modality among undergraduate design students is the visual learning modality; and thirdly that undergraduate design students tend to exhibit both high levels of visual literacy and score highly in relation to predominantly visual learning modality. For the purpose of this study Ausburn and Ausburn’s (1978) definition of visual literacy has been adopted, which suggested that visuals have their own vocabulary, grammer and syntax and that a visually literate person should be able to decode (interpret) visual messages successfully and to encode (compose) meaningful visual messages. A predominately qualitative approach or an approach that acknowledges a wider hermeneutical perspective may appear appropriate for this study. However, the research design reflected a somewhat narrow hermeneutical perspective to mirror the design curriculum and teaching stratagies common in higher education in New South Wales, Australia (Rourke & O’Connor, 2009).
Research Design A quasi-experimental research design in which qualitative procedures coupled with quantitative analysis was used in the study. Two separate qualitative procedures, the F-sort and Q-sort procedure, were used in a controlled classroom situation and the results were quantitatively analysed. The test was kept specifically short in duration for a number of reasons. Firstly, the length and duration of testing procedures are considered to impact the reliability and veracity of test outcomes, and the maximum recommended number of questions or evaluations within a given questionnaire should be around fifty (Heise, 1970). Measurement instruments that include more than fifty questions are considered to contribute to participant-fatigue, thereby impacting negatively on the reliability of results.
Test 1 – Identifying Predominant Learning Modality The self-administered VAK test devised by Chislett and Chapman (2005) was used to assess participant’s predominant learning style by assessing their strengths and weaknesses in relation to visual, auditory and kinaesthetic modalities. This test was selected as it could be self-administered and scored by participants, thereby providing data for this study as well as useful information for participants regarding their predominant learning modality. In addition, the VAK test is of relatively short duration and was applied in an attempt to minimise and/or avoid participant-fatigue.
Test 2 – Assessing Visual Literacy Q-sort and F-sort procedures were used to assess visual literacy levels among the participant group. The Q-sort technique, developed by Stephenson in the 1930s, elicits
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perceptions and judgments of a subjective nature by directing participants to sort visual stimuli using categories defined by the researcher (Amin, 2000; Stephenson, 1953). The Fsort technique is a modification of the Q-sort technique and allows participants to define their own categories without direction from the researcher when sorting visual stimuli (Miller, Wiley & Wolfe, 1986). This methodology combines a qualitative approach with quantitative data analysis and is considered an effective tool for capturing patterns of subjective responses to a set of visual stimuli (Amin, 2000; Brown, 1986).
Stimulus Sampling Process The visual stimulus sampling approach used in this study, adopted from Schroeder (1988) and Wohlwill (1977), involved collecting a large set of digital photographic images that illustrated examples of the historical design styles of the Arts and Crafts movement, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Bauhaus. Studies investigating the use of visuals in learning have expressed the importance of testing participants using: 1) material similar to their course material, and 2) that links into the course objectives (Szabo, Dwyer & DeMelo, 1981). The visual stimulus used in this study meets both of these criteria. A total of 62 images were collected and these were assessed using the nominal group consensus technique using the evaluation criteria below. • • • •
•
The photograph featured an example of the built environment, a textile design, or a furniture design; The image represented one of the four selected historical design styles (Art and Crafts movement, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Bauhaus); The image was of good photographic quality with clear and unimpeded features and a simple white (or colour consistent) background; The image could be manipulated using computer software to remove distracting elements; maintain and/or adjust consistency of ambient lighting across all images; and to maintain and/or adjust consistency of background colour and effect across all images; The image was copyright cleared and available for use in this research project.
Nominal group consensus technique is one of a number of techniques used to gain consensus in respect to research materials and visual stimuli. Unlike the Delphi technique, which uses a panel of experts, the nominal group consensus technique comprises a group of people considered to have relevant knowledge or experience specific to the aims of a research study (Campbell and Cantrill, 2001; Keeney, Hasson & McKenna, 2001). This technique was selected over the Delphi technique due to convenience. The nominal group, which included the two primary researchers of this study each of whom held doctorate qualifications in design, selected a final set of 12 digital photographic images for use in the study. Generic code numbers were used to identify the visual stimuli. The selection of visual material also was chosen to take into account ‘prototypes’ used to teach design history. According to Solso (2003) ‘prototypes’ can be used in art to assist with the recognition of the central visual characteristics of the work. Futhermore, prototypes were described “as the abstractions of stimuli against which patterns are judged”, Solso (2003) stated that “it is possible, and far
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more economoical, to store impressions that embody the most frequently experienced features of a class of objects (p.230).
Procedure All students who participated in the study were provided with a questionnaire and a set of visual stimuli in a well-lit classroom situation and were directed to self-administer the questionnaire. The questionnaire included a ‘Participant Information’ section; a 30 question VAK test; an ‘F-sort’ section and a ‘Q-sort’ section, and participants were directed to complete each section in serial order. The study proceeded under the supervision of the researchers and the resulting data was collected and bundled for subsequent data analysis. The Participant Information questionnaire included questions relating to a limited range of personal information such as age, gender and previous education. The F-sort questionnaire required participants to sort through the visual stimuli and arrange the images into groupings according to their own categories. Once sorted, participants were then required to record the sorted visual stimuli, using code numbers, under their own category headings on the instruction form. The participants were then directed to complete the Q-sort questionnaire. This questionnaire required participants to sort the visual stimuli again and group them under the headings of Arts and Crafts movement, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Bauhaus.
Participants and Sample Size The participants for this study were drawn from first year undergraduate design students from the College of Fine Art (The University of New South Wales) and the total sample size was 178. Of the sample group, 71% were between 17 and 20 years of age; 26% were between 21 and 30 years of age and 3% were aged 30 or more of these participants 72% were female and 28% were male. Of the sample group, 62% had studied Art at high school level and 13% had studied Design and Technology at high school level. The remaining 25% had not studied Art or Design related subjects at high school level.
Data Analysis: F-Sort Results The data collected from the study was input into statistical software in two large batches and the results were analysed using descriptive statistics as follows. The F-sort task required participants to sort the visual stimuli into categories using headings that they created themselves. Just over half the participant group (51.4%) categorised the images according using object type descriptors (such as “furniture, textile, building”). Of the remaining participants, 17.7% created categories based on relatively common design category descriptors (such as “Modern; Post-modern” or “Modern, Medieval, Organic, Oriental”). Almost 10% (9.7%) formulated categories based on shape, pattern and/or colour descriptors (such as “Geometric, Floral, Green, Grey”). Nearly 9% (8.6%) of the participant group sorted the images using categories that represented a mixture of object type/design category descriptors such as “Chairs, Exteriors, Art” and “Postmodern, Brown organic, Modern
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geometric, Old-fashioned, Intricate patterns”. A small group of participants (8.0%) created groups of images but did not provide any form of category headings or descriptions; while a smaller group (1.7) categorised the images into a large range of multiple groups with multiple headings. Finally, only 2.9% of participants sorted the images into categories that matched the categories devised by the researchers. Results of the F-sort task are illustrated in the following graph.
Q-Sort Results A relatively small percentage (5.6%) of the participant group achieved a ‘4 of 4 correct’ score’ by correctly identified all twelve images representing the four design styles used in the study (Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Bauhaus). A smaller group (3.4%) achieved a ‘3 of 4 correct’ score by correctly identifying all images within three of the four design styles, and 10.7% scored ‘2 of 4 correct’ by correctly identifying images within two of the four design styles. Of the remaining participants, 21.3% achieved a ‘1 of 4 correct’ score and over half of the participant group (57.3%) were unable to correctly sort the images into any of the four design styles. A small group of participants (2.2%) indicated on their questionnaires that they were not familiar at all with the design style categories used in this study and were not able to sort the images at all. The results are illustrated in the following graph.
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Of the images correctly identified by 5.6% of the participant group, the Art Deco style achieved the highest correctly-sorted score (26.4%), followed by the Bauhaus style (18.0%) and the Art Nouveau style (17.8%). The Arts and Crafts Movement style achieved the least correctly-sorted score (15.7%), as per the following graph.
These results indicate that the first hypothesis of this study (that visual literacy levels among undergraduate design students are relatively high and stable) should be rejected. Visual literacy levels among undergraduate design students was found to be low with only 2.9% achieving a high score on the F-sort task and 5.6% achieving a high score on the Q-sort task. Levels of stability in visual literacy levels among undergraduate design students will be determined in subsequent studies.
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Predominant Learning Modality Of the participant group, 40.8% identified their predominant learning modality as visual, 24.7% as auditory and 34.5% as kinaesthetic as per the following graph. Over 90% of the participant group indicated mixed preferences and not a single style preference. However, the scores indicated that primary learning modality preferences dominated considerably over participants’ other preferences.
These results indicate that the second hypothesis of this study (that the predominant learning modality among undergraduate design students is the visual learning modality) should be conditionally accepted. While the visual learning modality scores were high, the scores for the kinaesthetic and auditory learning modalities were also relatively high with the visual learning modality only 15% higher than scores for the kinaesthetic learning modality.
Patterns of Similarity and Difference: Visual Literacy Levels and Learning Modality The following graph illustrates the patterns of similarity and difference between visual literacy levels and predominant learning modality of the participant group. Among those participants who achieved a 100% correct score in the key Q-sort visual literacy test, visual learners were only marginally above auditory and kinaesthetic learners: the scores being 6, 5 and 4 out of a total of 178 respectively. No pattern or trend emerged that indicated that any of the predominant learning modalities were any better or worse in terms of visual literacy. Except that a surprisingly large proportion of predominantly visual learners scored very poorly in the Q-sort visual literacy test compared with auditory and kinaesthetic learners. Auditory learners’ results were relatively stable across the Q-sort scores, while kinaesthetic learners also scored poorly in the Q-sort visual literacy test.
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These results indicate that the third hypothesis of the study (that undergraduate design students tend to exhibit both high levels of visual literacy and score highly in relation to predominantly visual learning modality) should be rejected. The actual number of visual learners who scored 100% correct across all four design styles was only 6, as compared to 5 auditory learners and 4 kinaesthetic learners. In addition, the bulk of visual learners scored remarkably poorly in the Q-sort visual literacy test.
STUDY CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION These results provide some evidence to support the recommendation that teachers in higher education should not take for granted that just because they are teaching a visually dominant discipline to predominately visual learners, that these learners will necessarily have the visual literacy skills needed to comprehend visual examples used in instruction. It is an essential feature of cognition that the learner is provided with activities and instruction that allows them to create meaning from their observations, the participants in this study in the majority of cases, lacked the schemas to make the necessary connections. As this study has demonstrated even predominately visual learners experience difficulty comprehending the link between a visual example and the associated language that needs to be learnt. As Schnotz (2002) proposes, “it is not enough that learners possess the cognitive schemata of everyday knowledge required for understanding pictorial illustrations” (p.116), they need also to have acquired domain specific prior knowledge and the skills to apply it. Superficial observational points were received from students lacking visual literacy skills. These students tended to rely on visual type-form (recognition schemata) rather than associations that identify individual representations that required having the skill to recognize relevancy and the prior knowledge to put what they had identified into appropriate language.
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As a result of these findings it is suggested that educators in higher education need to develop both teaching and learning methods and presentation techniques for not just their student cohort’s predominant learning style but also develop methods for teaching the student’s who demonstrate other learning styles particularly for kinaesthetic learning styles. It is imperative that learners in higher education are provided with instruction and activities that promote the skill of receiving, understanding and reacting to visual information, so the quality or effectiveness of communication is improved and the subtlety of the messages can be further developed (Morgan & Welton, 1992). There needs to be a connection between the learners cognitive style and the mode of presentation used in instruction, as McKay (1999) has argued, performance is likely to be reduced where this is not present. Yet as these findings have demonstrated, even visual learners are struggling whom one would expect would have a relatively higher visual literacy skill levels than auditory or kinaesthetic learners. They are not as this study demonstrates, necessarily learning more than the other students with auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles. It does not make sense then to continue in visual dominant disciplines to bombard students with masses of complex visual imagery while using teaching methods that favour the dominant group of visual learners. Consequently using “a few well chosen and well executed illustrations can economically and powerfully convey a wealth of meaning” (Knupfer, 1993, p.150). DePorter (1992) suggested when discussing learning styles that one of the basic problems was that “many people don’t even realise they are favouring one-way or the other, because nothing external tells them they’re any different from anyone else” (p.114). It then becomes important that not only are students aware of their preferred learning style but educators in higher education provide a variety of learning instruction and activities to cater for their learners needs. One of the major outcomes of this study has been to recognise this oversight and to consider instructional methods that could be employed to improve student learning of visual material across each learning style modality. In the following section teaching and learning methods will be suggested to assist towards improving the use of visual material to facilitate student learning.
SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING STUDENTS LEARNING OF VISUAL MATERIAL These suggestions are aimed at promoting student learning across each of the learning styles and are based on teaching a novice learner as in the case of this study, a topic, concept or process in higher education using visual material. The objective for using these learning activities in teaching is to increase the learner’s visual literacy skills, irrespective of the disciplinary focus. Szabo, Dwyer and DeMelo (1981) in their study that tested two different modes of instruction effectiveness (visualized and nonvisualized) they discovered that: “students receiving the visualized instruction achieved significantly higher mean scores on all criterion measures” (p.184). They recommended that: “Visualization, if used to complement verbal instruction by presenting redundant information visually, is a viable instructional variable for improving student learning” (p.184) reinforcing the important role visuals can play as learning instruction. This approach has particular relevance in light of the results of
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the study discussed above wherein the largest proportion of the participant group identified their predominant learning modality as visual. There has also been emphasis placed in education on the important role practice plays in the learning process. Repeating the use of the same visual images in a variety of learning activities and teaching contexts can be beneficial towards enhancing student’s visual literacy skills. Cassidy and Knowlton (1983) suggested that one “becomes literate through conscious and deliberate effort; the proficiency is not simple acquired as is the case with speech….‘literacy’ implies learning” (p.69). What is commonly considered ‘literacy’ according to Hobbs (1997) is “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate messages in a variety of forms” (p.7). As has been previously mentioned, many novice learners however, have limited disciplinary language to express (analyze, evaluate, and communicate) appropriately what they see in a visual example regardless of the amount of times they have spend viewing the image. If a learner has been identified as adopting a predominately auditory style of learning they would benefit from a discussion about the meanings of the language that needs to be learnt in connection with the visual example. Whereas kinaesthetic learners would find it more beneficial to engage in ‘hands-on’ activities that physically engage the learner through actions with the disciplinary language and associated visual example. The visual learner tends to absorb information more efficiently if the visual example is presented with the text in an integrated manner such as in concept maps and cartoons. Role play also suits learners who are identified as predominantly kinaesthetic learners and, in the study discussed above, the second largest proportion of the participant group were identified as predominantly kinaesthetic learners. Learners with low visual literacy levels have no difficulty recognizing the formal or structural qualities of a visual image. Auditory style learners absorb information well when it is spoken in a clear concise manner. In this case presenting in a lecture format the obvious links between the formal qualities and the semantic or meaning qualities would benefit these learners. The kinaesthetic style learners need to be given learning activities that allow them to become actively engaged with the material to be learnt using their senses of sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing. These learners find learning via group activities using actual objects and working models as well as working in laboratories and attending field trips an effective way of learning. In order to promote a less superficial reading of visual material kinaesthetic learners need to become actively engaged in the learning process through ‘experiencing’ the new knowledge to be learnt. For the visual style learner working on concept mapping where formal qualities and the more indepth meaning qualities are linked could assist towards graphically explaining the required concept, process or theory that needs to be learnt. Across all the learning styles when engaging the learning in hands-on activities with visual material, limiting the quantity of auditory and written input from the instructor and in the teaching materials used can be advantageous. As previously mentioned, due to the limited capacity of the learner’s working memory, the novice learner when learning new material can find multimodal presentations and activities overwhelming. Instructors could reduce the cognitive load involved in processing visual material in working memory for the novice learner of new material by integrating where possible words and images and by avoiding irrelevant cognitive activities. An irrelevant cognitive activity is any activity not directly related to schema acquisition and automation (Sweller & Chandler, 1994). As previously mentioned, the process of having to mentally integrate two or more separate pieces of
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information at once can cause split-attention for the learner, resulting in a heavy working memory load, which has a negative effect on learning. Another area of visual learning that educators need to nurture and encourage is developing student’s ability to decipher the visual subtleties imbedded in visual images, graphs, tables, maps or any other visual material being used in teaching. It is often these less obvious visual details that provide meaning to the image and assist in explaining specific themes, issues or concepts that need to be learnt. The auditory learner needs to be trained to efficiently and effectively pick up these visual subtleties through engaged focused listening. Instructors can assist with this objective by sign posting during lectures the important points that need to be remembered about each visual example through vocal emphasis. These semantic cues in the form of changes in tone and level of voice in a lecture can assist towards signaling to the learner any important points that need to be remembered. As previously discussed in detail, semantic cues can assist the learner also to make links between their previous knowledge and the material to be learnt and with memory retrieval. Severini (1967) discussed the cue-summation theory where the principle of learning is that “learning is increased as the number of available cues or stimuli is increased” (p.237). However, effective use of pauses or ‘contemplation time’ in teaching while showing visual stimulus, can encourage students to think further about the points being raised as well as can be used as a useful teaching method for engaging the audience’s attention. Repetition of the main points or a recap on what has been said in a lecture can assist learners across all the learning styles, for the auditory learner this provides reinforcement of the main points to be learnt; the kinaesthetic learner and the visual learner benefit from this repetition to structure and correct the accuracy of their note-taking. For the kinaesthetic learner the action of note-taking keeps them engage and physically active. For the visual learner repetition in the lecture not only assists them in recording accurate notes for later study but also towards adding appropriate visual emphasizes to their note-taking (such as arrows, underlining, drawings, circling words etc), which can assist with later recall and revision. An economic use of well placed symbols, colours or codes if thoughtfully used in both teaching and note-taking, can combine multiple disconnected elements into one element. This could reduce the cognitive load for the less experienced learner as it assists towards avoiding the split-attention effect previously discussed. For the more experienced learner who had previous knowledge of the material, the elimination of redundant text rather than the integration of the text with diagrams reduced cognitive load. The auditory learners can benefit from taping a lecture then listening and perhaps transcribing the main emphasized points afterwards. They also benefit from being encouraged to engage in collaborative discussion groups with fellow students where they revisit the main points of the lecture. Group activities that utilize visuals examples that encapsulate a number of the main points to be learnt can be a useful instructional tool for focusing group discussion towards the points that need to be remembered, a learning activity that could benefit all learning styles. While auditory learners may represent the smallest proportion of the participant group of the study discussed above (just under 25% of the group), given such a proportion, it is imperative that teaching styles are utilized that also adequately address auditory learners. A ‘less is more’ approach to using visual material in teaching where fewer visual examples are used to explain more than one concept or point can be effective. Not only could the learner benefit from less talking in lectures and more contemplation time as previously
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mentioned, they could also find it advantageous if only a limited number of words were used to describe obvious points about each visual example. An early study by Holliday, Brunner and Donais (1977) suggested “that the display of visuals in text may result in the reader’s paying more attention to one cue and less to another, resulting in reduced effectiveness of visuals” (p.185), reversing this approach when teaching visual disciplines it is the words that distract from the visual image. As even novice learners can see and describe ‘the obvious’, what educators need to do is to provide learning activities that encourage the learner to delve deeper into the meaning of the visual example and to connect this new knowledge and understanding to their previous knowledge and understandings. In order to obtain the student’s perspective on the material being learnt, a useful exercise for students to do is to rank in order of importance what they think are the top five factors that they need to learn about the visual example. This can assist with future revision of course material and future planning on what emphasis needs to be made on the visual material to direct the learner to what needs to be learnt. If as “teachers we are not gaining insight into the nature of our students’ learning, then we are not teaching properly. The teacher’s enquiry into their students’ learning is not only a valuable form of educational enquiry, it is also the most valuable approach to teaching” (Rowland, 2000, p.8). Many novice learners when presented with the visual material tend to provide superficial observational points as they lacked the knowledge and understanding to comprehend what they see and have limited disciplinary language to communicate. In lectures the auditory style learner will be listening for phrases such as ‘you need to remember’; ‘this is an important point’ or ‘concentrate on this section’. When such phrases are used wisely for only a few key points about the visual example then relevant information is more likely to be recorded and remembered. Overuse can cause the auditory style learner to ‘switch-off’ as they become overwhelmed by the magnitude of detail to be learnt. Visual style learners can benefit from creating their own images (pictures, graphs, maps, flow charts, diagrams etc.) as this encourages them to apply their own personal meaning to the image linking their past knowledge and understanding to the new material to be learnt. Research has suggested that enhanced learning and retention is promoted when visual material is used in teaching (Dwyer & Baker, 2001; Carney & Levin; 2002). It has been suggested, “that a use of a variety of teaching and learning approaches has the potential to enhance the learning and performance for a wider range of adult students” (Hawk & Shah, 2007, p.2). Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) suggested as previously mentioned, that visual communication is becoming less the domain of specialists and has become more the domain of public communication, they stated that: “visual literacy will begin to be a matter of survival especially in the workplace” (p.2-3). Improving student’s visual literacy skills is a graduate attribute that is rarely catered for in higher education even though it is an essential skill students’ will need in many of their future professions in the technological world of the 21st century. Future research will be exploring further the connection between a learner’s visually literacy skill levels and their predominate learning style modalities in order to investigate further ways of improving the use of visual material in teaching in higher education.
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REFERENCES Adler, C. (1993). ‘Directed picture processing: The effects for learners on recall of related text’. PhD thesis, University of South Florida. Allinson, C. & Hayes, J. (1996). The Cognitive Style Index. Journal of Management Studies, 33, 119-135. Amin, Z. (2000). Q methodology – A journey into the subjectivity of human mind. Singapore Medical Journal, 41 (8), pp. 410-414. Apter, M., Mallows, R. & Williams, S. (1998). The development of the Motivational Style Profile. Personality and Individual Differences, 24 (1), 7-18. Arnheim, R. (1969). Visual Thinking. California: University of California Press. Ausburn, L. & Ausburn, F. (1978). Visual literacy: Background, theory and practice. PLET, 15 (40), 291-297. Ausubel, D.P. (1961). Learning by discovery: Rationale and mystique. Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, 45, 18-58. Avgerinou, M. & Ericson, J. (1997). A review of the concept of Visual Literacy, British Journal of Educational Technology, 28 (4), 280-291. Baddeley, A.D. (2001). Is working memory still working. American Psychologist, 56 (11), 851-64. Bleed, R. (2005). Visual Literacy in Higher Education, Educause Learning Initiative, Maricopa Community College, Mesa. Brown, S.R. (1986). Q technique and method: Principles and procedures. In W.B. Berry and M.S. Lewis-Beck (Eds.), New tools for social scientists: Advances and applications in research methods, Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Bloom, B.S. (Ed.)(1985). Developing talent in young people. Ballantine: New York. Blystone, R. (1992). Visual Literacy. The National Teaching and Learning Forum, 1 (3), 1-3. Bobis, J., Sweller, J. & Cooper, M. (1993). Cognitive load effects in primary -school geometry task. Learning and Instruction, 3 (1), 1-21. Boughton, D. (1986). Visual Literacy: Implications for cultural understanding through Art Education. Journal of Art and Design Education, 5 (1&2), 125-142. Bransford, J. & Johnson, M.K. (1972). Contextual prerequisites for understanding: Some investigations of comprehension and recall. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 717-726. Bruner, J.S. (1966). Some elements of discovery. In Shulman, L.S., Keislar, E.R. (Eds.) Learning by discovery: A critical appraisal (pp. 101-113), Chicago: Rand McNally. Campbell, S.M. & Cantrill, J.A. (2001) Consensus methods in prescribing research. Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 26, pp. 5-14. Carney, R.N. & Levin, J.R. (2002). Pictorial illustrations still improve student’s learning from text. Educational Psychology Review, 14 (1), March, 5-26. Carnine, D., Kameenui, E.J. & Coyle, G. (1984). Utilization of contextual information in determining the meaning of unfamiliar words. Reading Research Quarterly, 19 (2), 188204. Cassidy, M.F. & Knowlton, J.Q. (1983). Visual literacy: a failed metaphor? ECTJ, 31(2), 6790.
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Myers, I.B. & McCaulley, M.H. (1998). Manual: A guide to the development and use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press. Ortony, A. (1975). Why metaphors are necessary and not just nice. Educational Theory, 25, 45-53. Perkins, D.N. & Salomon, G (1988). Teaching for Transfer. Educational Leadership, 46 (1), 22-32. Potter, M.C. (1976). Short-term conceptual memory for pictures. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 2, 509-522. Potter, M.C. (1993). Very short-term conceptual memory’, Memory and Cognition. 21, 156161. Potter, M.C. (1999). Understanding sentences and scenes: The role of conceptual short-term memory. In Coltheart, V. (Ed.), ‘Fleeting Memories, Cognition of Brief Visual Stimuli’ (pp.13-46). Cambridge: MIT Press. Prawat, R.S. (1989). Promoting access to knowledge strategies and disposition in students: A research synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 59 (1), 1-41. Rakes, G.C. (1999). Teaching visual literacy in a multimedia age, TechTrends, 43(4), 14-18. Raney, K. (1999). Visual Literacy and the Art Curriculum. Journal of Art & Design Education, 18 (1), 42-47. Riding, R. (1998). Cognitive Styles Analysis – Research applications. Birmingham: Learning and Training Technology. Romice, O. (2000). New developments in and reflections on, the use of visual literacy and environmental evaluation for the participation of community groups in design, GeoJournal, 51, 311-319. Rourke, A.J. & O’Connor, Z. (in press). Look before you leap: Testing some assumptions on visual literacy and predominant learning modalities of of undergraduate design students in Australia and New Zealand. The International Journal of Learning, Vol 16. Rourke, A. J. & O’Connor, Z. (2008). I can see it but I don’t understand it!: Investigating visual literacy skills and learning styles in Higher Education design history students. International Journal of the Humanities, 6, 1-10. Rourke, B.P., Ahmand, S.A., Collins, D.W., Hayman-Abello, B.A., Hayman-Abello, S.E. & Warriner, E.M. (2002). Child clinical/pediatric neuropsychology: Some recent advances. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 309-339. Rowland, (2000). The Enquiring University Teacher, Buckingham: SRHE and Open University press. Sadler-Smith, E. & Smith, P.J. (2004) Strategies for accommodating individuals’ styles and preferences in flexible learning programmes. British Journal of Educational Technology, 35(4), 395-412. Schnotz, W. (2002). ‘Towards an Integrated view of learning from text and visual display’, Educational Psychology Review, 14 (1), March, 101-120. Schonborn, K.J. & Anderson, T. R. (2006). The importance of visual literacy in the education of biochemists. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 34,2, 94-102. Schroeder, H.W. (1988). Visual impact of hillside development: Comparison of measurements derived from aerial and ground-level photographs. Landscape and Urban Planning, 15, 119-126.
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Examining Ways to Improve Visual Teaching Materials Wohlwill, J.F. (1977). Visual assessment of an urban riverfront. Unpublished manuscript.
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In: Developments in Higher Education Editor: Mary Lee Albertson
ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5 © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 2
DECONSTRUCTING INTERTEACHING: IS THE WHOLE GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS? Fuschia M. Sirois, Alan Scoboria and Antonio Pascual-Leone Department of Psychology; University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT Interteaching is a theoretically-based teaching method with an emerging empirical base. Interteaching stands in contrast to traditional lecture-based educational methods by shifting responsibility for engagement with material away from instructors and onto students. This is accomplished through the use of preparation guides, in class discussion and interteaching reports, and clarifying lectures, three components which include educational techniques known to be effective for promoting student learning and engagement. In this chapter we present the current empirical literature on interteaching. We then deconstruct interteaching and review the literature to explore why the three components of interteaching - preparation guides, in class discussion and interteaching report, and clarifying lectures - promote student engagement and learning. Drawing upon our own research on the use of interteaching we then contrast key findings from the literature review with student perceptions and experiences of interteaching across several upper level undergraduate psychology courses. Although the theoretical basis of each component may explain why interteaching contributes to student engagement and learning, we argue that the emergent properties of all interteaching components in combination provide benefits that go beyond those derived from the individual parts. Suggestions for how to integrate interteaching into undergraduate courses and tips for developing material and for using this teaching method are discussed.
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Fuschia M. Sirois, Alan Scoboria and Antonio Pascual-Leone “I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” Albert Einstein “The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.” Edward Bulwer-Lytton
INTRODUCTION Research on educational outcomes has demonstrated that effective teaching methods typically accomplish a variety of goals. They tend to promote student engagement in their own learning, increase time that students spent on-task, allow instructors to obtain timely feedback from students, and are generally enjoyable for students and instructors. Authors such as Benjamin (1991) and Miserandino (1998) argue that teaching should be directed towards “active learning”: stimulating student motivation, thereby increasing engagement with knowledge and its acquisition, application, manipulation, and transformation. Proponents of this perspective argue that passive educational methods, such as the excessive reliance upon the canonical lecture-based approach, provide many disadvantages in terms of learning and retention of material. The less than adequate characteristics of traditional lecture-based educational methods are well established (McKeachie & Hofer, 1999). Student passivity results in little time being spent in deep processing of material, limiting understanding and connection of new learning to existing knowledge. Infrequent exposures, perhaps occurring only during lecture and immediately prior to examination, produces insufficient rehearsal periods to promote retention. Lecture results in little studentto-instructor interaction, making it difficult for instructors to obtain timely feedback and thereby correct errors in understanding. Furthermore, lecture is often experienced by instructors and students alike as dry, dull, and uninspiring. In contrast, research on learning and memory demonstrates that factors such as frequent and deep processing of material, awareness of progress in learning, desire to learn, and monitoring of learning effectiveness are associated with better learning outcomes (Pintrich, Brown, & Weinstein, 1994). A variety of educational methods have been devised which address the limitations of lecture-based methods. The intent of this chapter is not to review the range of approaches, or the methods by which lecture might be improved to enhance learning. In this chapter we describe a teaching method which was designed to embody many of the characteristics associated with the modern educational agenda. After introducing interteaching as a teaching method that can enhance student learning and engagement, we review current empirical research on the use of interteaching. We then deconstruct interteaching into its three key components, and consider the literature on analogous methods, and present illustrative findings from on our own use of this method in undergraduate courses. We conclude with a discussion of why interteaching may be effective and provide insight regarding the effective use of, and development of materials to support interteaching, based on our own experiences with this method.
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INTRODUCING “INTERTEACHING” Interteaching (Boyce & Hineline, 2002) is a recently developed teaching approach. This teaching methods is derived from wedding educational methods drawn from behavioural instruction (Keller, 1968), cooperative learning (Halpern, 2004), and reciprocal peer tutoring (Griffin & Griffin, 1998). Boyce and Hineline (2002) developed the approach in an effort to make Keller’s Personalized System of Instruction (PSI; 1968), a behaviourally informed approach to education, more acceptable in the context of traditional classroom based didactic practices. Keller developed the PSI to address what he perceived to be inefficiencies associated with the lecture format. To do so, he applied operant conditioning principles to education. The PSI approach involves organizing course material into units which are organized in order of importance. Students complete assignments and exams for each unit, and are expected to master the information in each unit - they do not move on to the next unit until they perform at a desired performance threshold on the test for each unit. Students move through the course material at their own pace. Thus, some may complete the units quickly, while others may require longer. Proctors who have previously mastered the course material assist with tutoring and marking of assignments. Optional lectures and demonstrations are offered later in the course to enhance student motivation. The instructor’s role is to design and oversee the course, devise tests, and provide optional lectures. In this model, the instructor is viewed as facilitating learning rather than as imparting knowledge. Research on PSI has demonstrated that, indeed, the method results in superior learning. For example, in a review paper Kulik, Kulik, & Bangert-Drowns (1990) reported that students instructed via PSI outperformed those instructed by a variety of other methods (e.g., traditional lecture, computer-based instruction) on common final exams. Despite these advantages, PSI instructional methods have decreased in popularity in recent decades. The reasons for this are many, but tend to center around several themes (Eyre, 2007). Many instructors find the method cumbersome in practice – preparation, development of multiple tests, and training and supervision of proctors can be time-intensive. Secondly, critics of the approach argue that instructors need to be engaged directly with students in order to be “teaching”. Thirdly, self-pacing makes it challenging to provide coverage of the same course material to all students, and is also associated with problems with student procrastination. Finally, teaching to mastery tends to lead to uniformly high grade distributions (Ainsworth, 1979). Interteaching attempts to resolve these difficulties in a variety of manners. First, practitioners of interteaching apply many of the principles of PSI within the structure of the typical, term-based university classroom. However, whereas interteaching retains the emphasis upon students’ responsibility for learning, the roles of self-pacing and mastery are de-emphasized in favor of encouraging student engagement and the provision of multiple rich exposures to course material. The initial expectation for exposure to and learning of course material is transferred to students. While interteaching continues to emphasize instructor preparation much like PSI, it also includes an increased role for instructor lecture as a complement to student motivated learning. Only after students have read and grappled with the material individually and in peer-to-peer discussions does the instructor provide lectures which are focused upon addressing student questions and areas of conceptual difficulty. Thus
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the role of the instructor is that of guiding learning, promoting student engagement, facilitating peer discussion of material, providing a framework for acquiring knowledge, and facilitating the comprehension of challenging information (Saville, 2006). It is the mutual exchange of information between well prepared peers which Boyce and Hineline (2002) emphasize in their definition of interteaching as, “A mutually probing, mutually informing conversation between two people” (p. 215).
INTERTEACHING: THE METHODS A brief description of the procedures used in interteaching are presented in this paragraph, after which each component of the model is presented in greater detail. To prepare for a course which incorporates interteaching, the instructor selects study materials (e.g., readings) and creates preparation guides. The guides consist of assigned readings and questions which are crafted to promote student discussion and understanding of material. Students complete the readings and prepare to answer the questions on the guide prior to class. In class, students discuss the guide in pairs for a majority of the class time. During discussion, the instructor circulates to answer questions and provoke further discussion. Following discussion, students complete an interteaching report, upon which they ask questions about difficult material and request further information. Based upon interactions with students during class and the information on these reports, the instructor prepares a clarifying lecture. The following class begins with this focused lecture, following which students commence with discussing the next guide.
Course Preparation Interteaching begins with selection of readings and the construction of preparation guides by the instructor. Thus, from the outset, course preparation in terms of selecting materials and planning class sessions is similar to the preparation of many traditional courses. What differs perhaps from many courses is the level of detail needed to prepare a set of questions which will fruitfully promote the goals of interteaching both in advance of class and during in-class discussions. The guides consist of questions which ideally assist students in engaging with and comprehending the course material to be covered during the upcoming class session. Successful guides contain a balance of questions that emphasize key knowledge and also provide questions which require manipulation and transformation of information. For example, if guides contain a majority of factually based question, students are likely to see little advantage to in-class discussion, because the facts can be readily accesses in the readings. Alternately, providing too many higher-order, conceptual questions, which often have no single correct answer, can be frustrating to students. Hence accessible questions, which facilitate students’ sense of efficacy, and other more challenging analytical and critical questions which require student collaboration to effectively navigate, are both desirable. Bloom’s (1984) cognitive taxonomy of question types provides a useful scheme for devising a range of questions.
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The preparation guide is a central feature of interteaching. Well designed guides promote student discussion and stimulate students to engage with material. Thus, the guide on a whole must be simultaneously accessible and challenging. It is critical to understand not just which questions may result in good discussion, but how the questions calibrate the instructor to what students know. Well constructed guides promote excellent in-class discussion amongst students, and presumably enhance student interest in material. On the other hand, poorly constructed guides can inhibit discussion. Developing guides requires careful selection of readings and balancing of different types of questions which promote different types of engagement with course material. This essential component of the methods is treated in greater detail later in this chapter.
Applying the Method The typical sequence for class sessions includes several steps, the details of which are presented in the following sections. In the first class the instructor introduces the teaching method, and provides a course outline and the initial preparation guide. The way in which the method is introduced to students is important. The approach is unfamiliar to most students, and they may be apprehensive in participating. The instructor has various tools which may help to “sell” the method. This includes the empirical evidence in support of enhanced learning (discussed below), presenting the conceptual rationale for the method, and in particular noting that that a majority of the students surveyed indicate finding the approach equally or more interesting and enjoyable than lecture alone. Developing a supportive culture in the classroom which normalizes the components of the methods is quite helpful.
Pre-Class Student Preparation Students complete the assigned readings and prepare to discuss responses to the guide questions prior to each class. It is helpful to provide students advice as to what constitutes adequate preparation. Students frequently struggle with deciding how much of their time to spend preparing. We have found that recommending that students complete the readings and come prepared with notes regarding the answers to guide questions is sufficient.
At the Start of Class Though not a component of the original interteaching model, our students have frequently commented that they prefer receiving an introduction to the topic before engaging in discussion. Thus, instructors may add what we have come to term an “orienting lecture” to the procedure. This consists of a 5-10 minute introduction of the topic in broad terms. This appears to prime students to discuss the topic of the day. We also find this useful for the purpose of invoking the class – it makes clear when this portion of the class has started, and thereby ensures that formal discussion is taken more seriously by students.
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In-Class Discussion Students then discuss the questions on the guide. During discussion, students work in pairs or small groups. This model requires that students participate in a different discussion pair in each class period. This rotation of group memberships is derived from the behavioral approach, and is thought to enhance accountability among peers, and reduce the likelihood of social loafing should individuals remain in the same group over time. In practice, we have varied both the size of groups as well as the frequency of switching groups. However, smaller groups (4 or fewer students) and switching with reasonable frequency (i.e., at least every third session) does appear necessary to facilitating effective discussions. The majority of the class time is devoted to discussion, during which the instructor circulates amongst the groups. The instructor’s task is to encourage discussion and answer questions. This provides a unique opportunity for instructors to receive immediate feedback about both student comprehension and the quality of the readings and guides. This allows the instructor to promptly intervene in order to correct a student’s understanding, both during discussion and during the clarifying lecture that will follow.
Interteaching Reports After discussion, students complete an interteaching report. In this report students provide the name of their discussion partner(s), and an assessment of the quality of the discussion. They then report upon the topics about which they continue to have questions. Specifically, they indicate the questions with which they are struggling, and the reasons they are encountering difficulties. Students may also be asked to identify relevant areas of personal interest and about which they would like to know more. This report serves a variety of functions. It allows the instructor to gain a sampling of students’ comprehension of the material as covered by each questions. Moreover, written reports provide a method for students to raise their questions if they are otherwise reluctant to discuss concerns directly with the instructor. Finally, in courses which are too large for the instructor to meet with everyone in the class period, the report becomes a method for students to ask questions and have a personal needs-based influence on the following lecture.
Clarifying Lectures After the class, the instructor draws upon the interteaching reports and information obtained while circulating in class to prepare a clarifying lecture. This lecture is held at the start of the next class. As it follows from prior discussion and is based upon student feedback, this lecture is more likely to be experienced by students as relevant and interesting. This lecture is not intended to cover all of the relevant material from the readings. Instead, the talk focuses upon conceptually challenging areas and on addressing students’ questions, with the goal of correcting errors and facilitating understanding. The instructor may choose to emphasize additional points that students typically struggle with in the course. This also provides an opportunity to pepper in additional information about topics that students find interesting.
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Evaluation Boyce & Hineline (2002) make recommendations regarding examinations. They state that exam content should be closely tied to preparation guides. Thus, mastery of key material is emphasized through the questions presented on guides and is reinforced through testing. The authors also recommend that exams be frequent, so that students have multiple opportunities to obtain feedback on their progress, as well as to improve their marks. An additional component of the model involves a concept termed quality points. Students are not evaluated for the quality of their preparation or discussion. However, in the formal interteaching model, students can gain higher test scores if they and their study partner get the same exam questions correct. In other words, for example, two students discuss Guide A together. On the examination, 8 questions are drawn from the material on Guide A. For any of these questions that both of the students get correct, they gain an additional point towards the exam grade. This is intended to reinforce effective preparation and discussion – if students arrive prepared and discuss effectively, presumably they will learn more (i.e., broader coverage and in more depth). In this way, this method of evaluation reinforces the elements of preparation and discussion which are thought to contribute the most to learning. To encourage active participation, a portion of course credit may also be assigned to attendance at in-class discussion. While this may be useful in promoting student discussion, it seems to us to be less consistent with the model to award points for the quality of student preparation. It is more important that students are focused upon acquiring information, than upon getting the correct answers to the preparation questions. If they engage in the methods, they will arrive at accurate responses, and by a route which promotes greater retention and understanding.
RESEARCH ON INTERTEACHING Outcome evidence for interteaching is promising. Research with small samples has provided empirical evidence that is supportive of the method. In an experimental study (Saville, Zinn, & Elliott, 2005), participants took part in a 45 minute laboratory session during which they were randomized to learning about a short article via interteaching, lecture, reading, or were placed in a control group (no exposure to the article). At testing one week later, participants in the interteaching group answered more questions correctly (74%) than the remaining groups, which did not significantly differ (from 51% to 60%). This represented a large effect favoring interteaching over lecture (Cohen’s d = .90). Two subsequent studies (Saville, Zinn, Neef, Van Norman, & Ferreri, 2006) examined the effects of interteaching in the classroom. The first study involved 35 MA level graduate students enrolled in an 8-week course on promoting transition from school to adult roles. Half of the class sessions were delivered using interteaching, and the other half using lecture. Quizzes were administered at the start of each class, related to material from the preceding class. Examination of quiz scores revealed a large statistical advantage for interteaching over lecture (Cohen’s d = 1.91), and average scores for interteaching sessions were consistently higher than those for lecture sessions. The second study used a similar alternating treatments design with two sections of undergraduate psychology research methods (Ns 12 and 19
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respectively). The course was divided into 6 units, and the two sections alternated such that for each unit one group received interteaching while the other received lecture for the same course material. In each subsequent unit the teaching method was switched. Students were tested following each unit, and the final exam was designed so that questions were linked to the content of each class session. Across units, interteaching consistently outperformed lecture, with 81% of participants scoring higher following interteaching than lecture. On the final exam, 76% of interteaching based questions were answered correctly, as compared with 69.5% of lecture based questions. Interteaching is also designed to be more enjoyable than lecture. In all of the studies noted above, a majority of students also expressed preferring interteaching over lecture. Another study examined the application of interteaching to larger undergraduate classes. Scoboria and Pascual-Leone (In press) employed a variant of interteaching model in two large courses in undergraduate abnormal psychology (Ns = 60 and 120). They found that grades on a standardized writing assignment were significantly greater following interteaching as compared with two prior offerings of the same course. Furthermore, attendance at interteaching discussion sessions was consistently associated with improved performance on writing assignments, and less consistently associated with exam grades, after statically controlling for student’s academic ability (using grade point average) and student enthusiasm for the teaching methods that were employed. Because most students preferred interteaching to lecture alone, the authors suggested that interteaching appears to be an equally effective, and perhaps superior, approach to teaching undergraduate courses.
DECONSTRUCTING INTERTEACHING Although limited, the research on the effectiveness of interteaching is promising. An additional approach to understanding the effectiveness of interteaching for promoting student learning and engagement is to examine the research related to the components of interteaching and why each may facilitate effective learning. In the following sections we deconstruct interteaching into its three main components and review the research on their potential for enhancing student learning.
Preparation Guides Recall that the preparation guide consists of questions which help the student identify key material, and think in analytical, critical, and applied ways about the material presented in the readings. As a central component of interteaching the preparation guide has several key functions with respect to enhancing learning. These include serving as a prompt for students to prepare in advance of the lecture, and initiating active and reflective involvement with the course material. A necessary pre-requisite for answering the questions on the preparation guide is that the readings assigned to the guide are completed first, and therefore before class. For example, a survey of 1,058 students from 14 colleges and universities found that coming to class having completed the readings was linked to positive learning outcomes including higher grades and
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critical thinking (Carini, Kuh, & Klein, 2006). The importance of preparing in advance for class has led some to suggest that the 2-hour rule is needed for students to learn. That is, for every hour of classroom time it is necessary for students to spend two hours outside of class preparing to facilitate student learning (Kuh, 2003). Although this may seem somewhat obvious, a recent study suggests that a number of students do not put in the recommended study time. A survey of over 380,000 undergraduates randomly sampled from 722 higher education institutions in the U. S. found that only one out of five students reported that they frequently came to class having completed the readings (National Survey of Student Engagement, 2008). Requiring the completion of preparation guides may be one way to promote timely completion of the course readings. After the readings have been completed students must then start to actively reflect on the readings to answer the preparation guide questions. Although the level of engagement does depend on the nature of the questions included in the preparation guide, even the most basic, factual type questions require that students find where in the readings the answers may appear and that they actively write out those answers. Of course, with questions that require more complex integration of the readings, the completion of the preparation guide can help initiate more in depth processing of the material than what might be achieved by passive reading alone. Evidence from several studies examining analogous pre-lecture activities indicates that this type of preparation is an effective means of enhancing student learning and performance, especially when linked to evaluation. In one study, 162 upper level undergraduates received either pre-lecture quizzes or no quiz (Narloch, Garbin, & Turnage, 2006). Compared to the those in the no quiz group, students in the pre-lecture quiz group asked a greater number of high level questions during class (according to Bloom’s taxonomy of knowledge levels), reported spending more time preparing for class, and paced their studying throughout the term. They also performed better on both multiple choice and essay exam questions. Moreover, there is evidence that writing rather than just thinking about topics prior to discussion can enhance learning. In a very large introductory psychology class (N = 978) students were randomly assigned to either a writing or a thinking condition, and presented with a discussion topic (Drabick, Weisberg, Paul, & Bubier, 2007). Prior to the group discussions, the students wrote or thought about the discussion topic for 10 minutes. The brief written assignments were, however, not graded. Students in the writing condition attended class more frequently and performed better on the factual and conceptual multiple-choice examination questions which were based on the discussion topic. These findings suggests that brief written, ungraded assignments that prepare students for discussion (similar to preparation guides), are an effective means of enhancing both factual and conceptual learning. Finally, the effectiveness of guiding questions for student learning was tested in a study of 113 introductory psychology students (Lawson, Bodle, & McDonough, 2007). Students were assigned to one of four conditions in which they watched a video without taking notes, took notes, thought about guiding questions, or wrote answers to guiding questions. Following the video they answered a quiz with half of the questions related to the guiding questions. Although there was no difference in the performance on the questions that were unrelated to the guiding questions, students who wrote answers to the guiding questions outperformed the students in the other conditions on the quiz questions that were related to the guiding questions. Because the students did not have time to review the notes they took before the quiz the authors suggested that better performance on the quiz by the writing group
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was facilitated by the actual act of writing, which enhanced mental encoding of the information, and provided focus for the key concepts. These findings replicate and extend those of a previous study (Lawson, Bodle, Houlette, & Haubner, 2006), which also found enhanced quiz performance on questions related to guiding questions among students who answered guiding questions versus those who simply watched the video.
Interteaching Discussion and Report Aside from the purposes and benefits outlined above, the preparation guides also serve to prepare students for engaging in small group discussions. The interteaching discussions provide students an opportunity to work actively and collaboratively with their peers to refine and/or correct their answers to the preparation guide questions, as well as compare their perspectives to those of other students. In addition, the discussion session provides direct contact with the instructor who circulates to encourage discussion and monitors the understanding of the material. The small group discussions that involve sharing and elaboration of answers to the preparation guide can be broadly viewed as a form of active learning, a method with an established record for enhancing learning (Cherney, 2008; Yoder & Hochevar, 2005). More specifically, the interteaching discussion is an instance of collaborative learning as it involves the reviewing and sharing of answers to the questions through peer interaction. Staarman, Krol, and Meijden (2005) conceptualize collaborative learning from a cognitive elaboration approach (Webb, 1991), and propose that the potential benefits from this method arise from the active processing of information that occurs during peer interaction. For example, students actively process information when they provide detailed explanations of their answers, give examples to illustrate, explain concepts to peers, or specifically argue for or against a particular answer. Accordingly, developing shared meaning, explicit comparisons of different perspectives, and co-constructing new knowledge via collaborative resolution of conflicting viewpoints each contribute to the process of elaboration (Staarman et al., 2005). Several studies suggest that verbalization plays a critical role in this process, and that positive learning outcomes are associated with elaborated verbal responses but not with simply providing the answer without elaboration (Webb, 1991). When a student is asked to elaborate or explain their answer by their peers, the material must be clarified, reorganized, and presented in a way that makes the relevant information understood better, not just to the peers, but also by the student who is explaining. This type of elaborative verbalization has been found to result in greater reflection, re-organization, awareness, differentiation, and expansion of the student’s knowledge (Van Boxtel, van der Linden, & Kanselaar, 2000). Providing students with the opportunity to discuss and elaborate on the answers to their preparation guide through small group discussions does not guarantee that an ideal form of peer interaction that facilitates cognitive elaboration and therefore enhanced learning will occur. Indeed, Staarman and colleagues (2005) mapped the types of verbal interactions that occurred across several different peer-to-peer collaborative learning settings with a focus on the occurrence of beneficial interactions (i.e., those that involved providing elaborative information, asking complex questions, asking verification questions, referring to prior knowledge, and accepting or rejecting statements with elaboration). The frequency of the beneficial interactions was lower than interactions that did not involve elaboration, suggesting
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that further steps may be needed to ensure that student interactions lead to the elaboration of knowledge. During the discussion session the instructor circulates to monitor the quality of student exchanges regarding the preparation guide material. This provides the instructor with an opportunity to enhance less than productive student discussions by seeding them with questions to promote fruitful elaboration of the preparation guide answers. In addition, monitoring the discussion groups provides students with direct contact to the instructor who can provide immediate feedback, something that may be especially important for large classes. Research with both first year and senior undergraduates indicates that receiving prompt feedback and contact are key markers of student engagement (Carini et al., 2006). Interteaching discussion groups also highlight the importance of social participation for learning. Aside from facilitating cognitive elaboration of knowledge, the small discussion groups offer an opportunity to socially interact with their peers. This can foster respect for different points of view and teach the value of teamwork and collaboration. McDermitt (in Murphy, 1999) suggests that social participation is essential for learning: Learning is in the conditions that bring people together and organize a point of contact that allows for particular pieces of information to take on a relevance; without the points of contact, without the system of relevancies, there is no learning, and there is little memory. Learning does not belong to individual persons, but to the various conversations of which they are a part (p. 17).
Nonetheless, Boud, Cohen, and Sampson (1999) have noted that collaborative learning tends to be considered less as an approach to further a broad educational agenda, and more so as an instructional strategy for achieving immediate learning goals. Increasingly, there is an emphasis on equipping graduates with a range of skills to encourage lifelong learning. To this end, Candy et al. (1994) have proposed that peer-assisted and self-directed learning are one of five characteristics of teaching methods that foster life-long learning because they facilitate the development of reflection and critical self-awareness. The final activity in the interteaching discussion period is the completion of the discussion report. This report facilitates reflection about which questions from the interteaching preparation guide they did and did not fully understand and were not clarified during the peer discussion period. Students can also identify areas that they wish had been covered in the preparation guide. The report also serves to provide feedback to the instructor about areas of focus for the clarifying lectures. Research on the effectiveness of comparable activities indicates that the interteaching report may also be a means to promote deeper thinking about course material. Across ten different classes, Carroll (2001) investigated the effect of having students write questions about what they did not know about the course content. Students reported that the technique helped them to view the course content in different ways, understand the limitations of the text, and relate their current knowledge to previously learned material. Such questioning may promote both analyzing and reflection which can facilitate deeper processing of the course material. Similarly, a study of 107 introductory psychology students tested the effectiveness of a 4-question reflective learning technique (Dietz-Uhler & Lanter, 2009). Following an active learning exercise, students received the four questions either before or after a quiz about the activity. Among the four questions was one which prompted students to question
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what they had learned from the activity and what they may still be wondering about. Students were also instructed to not simply state that they had no questions. Those who completed the four questions prior to the quiz scored significantly higher than students who completed the questions after the quiz. They also reported that answering the questions helped them think more deeply about the material and were effective in encouraging them to consider what they still needed to know.
Clarifying Lectures Following the in-class discussion period, a clarifying lecture is delivered as the final component of the interteaching method. This lecture is designed to correct errors, facilitate understanding of more difficult material, and add additional information about topics in which students expressed interest. In contrast to traditional lectures which tend to promote passive learning, the clarifying lecture provides a direct link to the interteaching discussion by addressing student areas of concern from the discussion. Several studies suggest that memory for course content and course performance is better for active learning techniques than for lecture alone (Cherney, 2008; Lake, 2000; Yoder & Hochevar, 2005). Other educators have argued that the lecture method can enhance learning because of its flexibility and versatility. For example, Barbetta & Scaruppa (1995) cite several advantages of the lecture method, noting that it allows instructors to probe for student understanding and adjust the lecture accordingly on the spot. The clarifying lecture is designed to respond to student feedback provided from the interteaching report. In this respect it doubles the opportunity to provide feedback by probing for the effectiveness of the material presented for clarification. Although the clarifying lecture is somewhat unique to interteaching, it does share some characteristics with the guided notes lecture. Guided notes are an outline of the material to be covered in the lecture that include prompts for writing key points presented (Austin, Gilbert, Thibeault, Carr, & Bailey, 2002). The preparation guide in interteaching similarly highlights key points and content areas that are then covered in more depth during the clarifying lecture. Empirical work examining the effects of guided notes with college students indicates that this technique enhances recall of lecture material over time and is generally perceived by students as being beneficial. Guided notes were used during more than half of the scheduled classes over a single term on a random schedule, and student recall for lecture content was assessed with a brief quiz at the end of the lecture period. In the guided notes condition, the notes were made available before the lecture, and in the no notes condition the lecture was presented without the notes. The mean quiz scores and average number of in-class student responses in the guided notes classes were higher than those without the guided notes, indicating that the guided notes enhanced learning and encouraged class participation (Austin et al., 2002). In addition, students had positive perceptions about the use of the guided notes and were almost unanimous in agreeing that the notes allowed them more time to think and comment about the lecture content.
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STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF INTERTEACHING Our literature review of the effectiveness of the key components of interteaching highlighted some of the evidence for the effectiveness of each by examining research on analogous methods. This deconstruction suggests that the preparation guide, interteaching discussion and report, and the clarifying lecture can each enhance student learning by encouraging students to actively engage with the course material in several different ways. But one should also consider whether these benefits are consistent with the student’s experience of interteaching. Research comparing student and faculty perceptions of the qualities of effective teaching has shown that there is a high level of agreement on the main qualities, but there are still some notable differences (Buskist, Sikorski, Buckley, & Saville, 2002; Schaeffer, Epting, Zinn, & Buskist, 2003). In the following section we contrast some of the key findings revealed from the literature review with student perceptions and experiences with interteaching. The comments presented are from students across several different undergraduate upper level psychology courses in abnormal (Ns = 58, 118) and health psychology (Ns = 36, 122). Each participant is identified by a unique numeric code to help identify comments that are made by the same student while maintaining their anonymity. Students completed brief surveys about their experience with interteaching at the end of the term, which included open-ended question about their experience with the teaching method. All students received extra course credit for their participation and gave informed consent to collect their data. We offer these comments not as evidence for the benefits highlighted in the literature review, but as a means to illustrate and perhaps extend these points from the students’ perspectives. Furthermore, although not all students saw the interteaching process as beneficial, the majority did see some benefit to this method and its individual components. The selected comments are therefore those which cite the benefits of interteaching.
Student Perceptions of Preparation Guides In line with the suggestion that the preparation guide provides an impetus for encouraging timely course reading and preparation before class, students generally perceived that this component of interteaching helped them keep up with the course readings. One student referring to the preparation guides commented, “It is very effective in motivating me to do all the readings and questions before class, and to learn the course material more thoroughly” (137). Another student responded, “Completing the Prep Guides before class helped me to keep on top of my readings and not fall behind (especially in the shorter, summer session)” (104). The advanced preparation required for the guides also served to discourage procrastination: “It helps me keep on track with readings. Normally I wait until the last minute to do readings, but the prep guides helped me stay on top of the readings” (125). Yet another student noted the motivational value of the preparation guides despite the extra work it required: “It seems like a lot of work for each chapter, but it motivates me to do the work on time and prevents me from falling behind with course material” (112). Students also viewed the preparation encouraged by the guides as having other related learning benefits. One student noted how the preparation guide enhanced comprehension of
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the lecture: “It’s an excellent way to make the student prepare the lesson and the topic and read the chapter before the lecture which makes the lecture more clear” (132). Some students also noted that the preparation guides enhanced their learning of the material. For example, one student commented, “It is very effective in motivating me to do all the readings and questions before class, and to learn the course material more thoroughly” (137). An additional benefit of the preparation guide as identified in the literature review involved its use for preparing students for exams. This, of course, depends on the extent to which the instructor has linked the preparation guide content to the course exams and quizzes. Two of the courses in which we surveyed students did include exam questions which were taken directly, or slightly modified, from those on the preparation guides. Several students appreciated the links between the preparation guides and the exams: One of which noted, “Between class notes, prep guides and readings, I felt very prepared when it came to studying for exams” (234). Another student stated that the advanced preparation needed for the preparation guide also helped with exam preparation by encouraging paced studying of the course material: “I really like doing prep guides. I’ve done them in another course and I found it helped with my overall understanding of the material, and allows you to actually prepare ahead of time for exams, so you’re not attempting to learn big chunks of information at one time” (127).
Others found that the focused nature of the preparation guides helped them to identify key areas of the course content which in turn facilitated better studying. For example a student stated that the guide: “provides good review to study for exam by knowing what material the prof finds important” (179). Consistent with the literature linking activities analogous to the preparation guide with better exam performance, another student noted: “This is my second class with interteaching. I am not an extremely strong student and have to study and try very hard. Prep guides and lectures has, I believe, increased my grade for both classes” (201).
Student Perceptions of Interteaching Discussion and Report The key benefits of the interteaching discussion identified in the literature review included those also linked to collaborative learning, including active processing of information and the elaboration of existing knowledge that occurs through verbal discussion. Students commented on the benefits they saw from this collaborative learning approach, noting the benefits of discussion for learning the course material. For example: “It was helpful to hear other students' comments and experiences about certain topics because personal experiences stay in one's mind for longer time than does dry information” (136). Students also enjoyed being exposed to different perspectives through the interteaching discussions. As one student commented, “The different people I worked with had great ideas and gave me different perspectives that I probably wouldn’t have seen on my own” (113). The value of the discussions for promoting elaboration of knowledge was also noted: “I like the small group discussions because it provides me with the ability to clarify questions that I
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have after reading the textbook, and it helps me to develop my answers more thoroughly” (232). The importance of social participation for learning was also acknowledged by students. Many saw the interteaching discussion as a means to promote collaborative learning. One student noted: “I found this method useful because we were able to collaborate with our peers and clarify any ambiguities we had about the questions. If the teacher was unavailable, another student would be there to help” (117). Some students also enjoyed the act of working with peers towards a mutual goal: “I think it is a good idea because it forces a student to make connections with others in the course. Also you can ask questions if there are areas in which you find challenging and realize others feel the same, and work together to understand” (158). An additional benefit noted by students was the effect that the interteaching discussion had on their comfort level for interacting with the professor. As one student notes, “I really enjoyed interteaching with other students and felt able to discuss more with the professor” (191).
Student Perceptions of the Clarifying Lecture Although fewer students commented on the benefits of the clarifying lecture, those comments that did indicate benefits were consistent with the literature review. Given in the context of the entire interteaching method, students viewed the clarifying lectures as qualitatively distinct from the standard lecture format and in this respect clarifying lectures were regarded as more interesting: “It was nice to have a break from the traditional lectures we receive. The change even made the lecture more interesting because my attention span was much greater” (247). The purpose of the clarifying lecture was also noted by some: “I found interteaching to be very beneficial. It allowed me to stay on top of the readings. Also, having a lecture following [discussion] was great because it answered any questions we might have had and cleared up any concepts” (114). Other students found that in addition to clarifying information the lectures also served to reinforce and supplement what they had learned in the other interteaching components: “I feel the lectures following the prep guide reinforces what we learned by looking in the text, and added to what we missed or didn’t discuss in our groups” (113).
GETTING STARTED: TIPS FOR WRITING THE PREPARATION GUIDE One issue that has not been sufficiently explored in the literature is how to best develop a set of preparation guides. In some sense, the entire pedagogical method is hinged on the development of study questions; making the thoughtful development of preparation guides the sine qua none of this approach. As suggested, at the most basic level, the purpose of a study guide is to direct students to content in readings and provide a self-administered “check” for comprehension and breadth. For this reason, when considering questions to include in a guide it is critical to evaluate to what extent questions are able to sensitively and
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quickly inform the instructor as to what students have understood or not. This can then help to appropriately calibrate the level of the lecture and discussion that follow. Another, important purpose of preparation guides is to herald in good discussion. Classroom discussions are intended to bring students collaboratively together to further explore course content. Thus, in the end, the quality of questions in preparation guides will play a strong hand in influencing the quality of discussion that ensues. This is particularly relevant, given the generally pervasive challenge faced by instructors wishing to generate fruitful and involved discussions in their classrooms. So, although a basic set of preparation guide questions may be sufficient to provide students with direction in the assigned readings, a carefully crafted set of questions could be a useful tool to inspire independent and lively discussion within a class. Examining sets of questions and their usefulness in generating discussion has led us to consider a working framework for deliberately developing a few distinct types of questions in the hopes of facilitating good discussion. We outline some of these ideas below.
Beginner Questions: Facts and Definitions First, study questions about facts and definitions provide basic direction for students doing assigned reading. These are often the most obvious questions about content and one way of thinking about them is that they are similar to what one might have on a quiz. The line of questioning in inquiries about facts and definition should provide basic direction to students on which are the important key ideas in the readings. In anticipation of a discussion, these entry level questions should cover information that is essentially prerequisite to deeper or applied understanding of the material at hand. Finally, in keeping with the quiz-like quality of this kind of study guide question, it will usually be desirable (and feasible) for the instructor to gives the “correct” answers to these at end of discussion period. In this way, students who may have more difficulty can often use these questions to check their basic understanding prior to the clarifying lecture. Although by no means exhaustive, a few examples of this type of question follow: • • •
•
Domain questions: Asking a series of factual questions elaborating a specific domain. Definitions: Asking students for a description of key ideas or formal definitions. Sort information into groups - or - Find the exception: Requiring the classification of available information according to criteria outlined in the readings. The “wild goose chase” question: Sometimes it is useful to confront students with a question for which there is no single/correct answer because it helps them confirm the limits of their knowledge.
In short, when preparing an optimal study guide it is wise to include a certain number of these questions to keep students on track. Although questions about facts and definition facilitate a basic understanding of the course content and are generally easy for the instructor to produce, they tend not to be very fruitful when it comes to generating discussion later on. For that purpose one will have to include more advanced questions.
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Advanced Questions: Conceptual and Applied A second type of question should also be included to deliberately seed future discussion. Conceptual and applied questions are generally more complex and their answers should not be easily available from the readings. These questions should require students to manipulate the content in new ways, which will eventually form the targets of discussion. Again, although not intended to be exhaustive, we list a few examples for this type of question, which we have found useful in our teaching: •
•
• •
•
•
Devil’s advocate: In questions like this the student is encouraged to take a critical view of the course material. For example, one may ask about the advantages or disadvantages of adopting a given perspective. Developmental/historical process question: Student are asked to integrate information together and provide a reflection on the inspiration or origins of an idea. Some specific examples of this type of question which seem to be particularly useful might be: “What is the process by which this happens?”- or “How/why did this come to be?” Examine assumptions: This type of question asks students to consider the strengths and limitations of a given concept/approach/method. Play expert: This is really a variation on the “examine assumptions” question and asks students to give their “informed/expert opinion” on some issue and to provide supporting arguments. For example, one may ask: “Do you think that the field might be biased in a particular way? What is your evidence?” Assess the translation - or - Compare and contrast: This type of question requires students to take factual and definitional information and then to evaluate whether it is being well represented or not. For example, a question might ask: “How does this concept/model/theory relate to that case example?” Or, “In what ways are these concepts a product of that theoretical perspective?” Find a metaphor: This kind of question asks students to find a suitable metaphor to capture a given idea, in this type of question students are asked to hypothesize and think more creatively in order to represent an overarching principle or concept.
When developing and choosing these kinds of questions for the preparation guide in the hopes of generating discussion it may be wise to also consider the role a question might play in a group setting. Although conceptual and applied questions encourage each student to think more deeply, another notion is required for questions to translate smoothly into a group discussion.
Questions that Generate Discussion: Convergent vs. Divergent Depending on how they are couched, conceptual and applied questions can also be thought of as ultimately reflecting two sub-types of questions, and these have very important implications for any discussion that is intended to follow. Given that more thought provoking questions often have multiple possible answers, instructors should consider whether the
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conceptual or applied question is likely to facilitate convergent or divergent answers within a group and within the class. Convergent questions, for example, may ask a student to find some instance in her or his personal experience that relates to or exemplifies a given idea (i.e., “apply or interpret your life using this idea”). This type of applied question is useful in that it can help make content relevant to student’s everyday life, but all instantiations that students generate will exemplify the concept at hand. Similarly, in the find a metaphor question mentioned above, although all student answers will be different, if they are suitable, they will be recognized by fellow classmates as capturing a similar meaning, making this a convergent question. Discussion based on questions like this is likely to yield a better understanding of commonalities and themes. However, other conceptual and applied questions tend to facilitate divergent answers. Divergent questions may be very open-ended and given an opportunity for individual differences in perspective to become apparent, lending emphasis to those differences. Such a question, for example, may ask a student to take a given concept or idea and apply it to his or her personal life (i.e., “find a way to use this idea, apply this idea to your life”). Although applied questions of this kind can be very useful for learning, discussion based on these questions are likely to produce divergent answers as each student personalizes the concept at hand. Consequentially, divergent questions will be useful if the instructor wishes to lead discussion into issues of personal bias, assumptions, and differences in perspective. In short, questions about the application of concepts can ask students either about the range of ways in which a concept applies or about which conditions of applicability that might produce a given finding or effect. Notice that the former will likely produce divergent answers among students, while the latter will likely produce convergent answers.
IS THE WHOLE GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS? The literature review and representative student comments provide support for the value of each of the interteaching components for enhancing student learning and engagement. The preparation guides can motivate advanced preparation for the lecture, encourage active processing of the readings, and help focus studying on key concepts and principles. The interteaching discussion provides an arena for collaborative learning which facilitates deeper processing of the course material through elaboration, reflection, and the development of critical thinking. The clarifying lecture provides further opportunities for learning by reinforcing previously discussed material and clarifying any concepts identified by students in the discussion reports. Although each component on its own may individually contribute to student learning and engagement, we would argue that the emergent properties of all interteaching components in combination provide benefits that go beyond those derived from the individual parts. In other words, interteaching is effective not just because of the summed benefits from the preparation guide, discussion session, and clarifying lecture. The key components of this method are designed to build on the benefits of each, thereby resulting in performance improvements that are superior to those from the individual components alone. For example, a recent study by Saville (2006) found that preparation coupled with in-class discussion is a key component in these performance gains. Students who were provided preparation guides but did not engage
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in discussion did not show performance gains, while students who completed guides and inclass discussion did show improved performance. The multiple exposures and rehearsal with the material that students receive through the variety of methods incorporated within interteaching may be one reason for the effectiveness of interteaching as a whole. Rather than touching upon material twice (once during lecture, and once when studying, sometimes cramming, for the exam), interteaching provides students with the opportunity to encounter material four times (initial reading, in-class discussion, clarifying lecture, and when studying for the exam). This type of repeated exposure facilitates deeper processing of the material, not just through repetition but also by providing a variety of ways for students to engage with the course material. Students must not only rehearse and organize the material so that they can understand it (while completing the preparation guides), but they must be able to communicate their understanding to peers by elaborating on their answers (in the discussion groups). Transforming knowledge so that it can be expressed to another person helps to crystallize that information in memory (Webb, 1991). Other benefits include the opportunity to practice communication skills with a variety of peers and learning how to give and receive effective feedback. Providing feedback to the instructor about what was and was not understood via the discussion report requires reflecting on one’s own understanding of the material which can further facilitate learning (Carroll, 2001; Dietz-Uhler & Lanter, 2009). In summary, we contend that interteaching as a whole is effective largely because it packages a repertoire of learning techniques which reinforce and supplement the individual benefits of each. With the increasing evidence supporting the benefits of active learning strategies for student engagement and learning, interteaching offers an organized and effective instructional method that can benefit both students and instructors.
REFERENCES Ainsworth, L. L. (1979). Self-paced instruction: An innovation that failed. Teaching of Psychology, 6(1), 42-46. Austin, J. L., Gilbert, M., Thibeault, M., Carr, J. E., & Bailey, J. S. (2002). The effects of guided notes on student responding and recall of information in a university classroom. Journal of Behavioral Education, 11, 243-254. Barbetta, P. M., & Scaruppa, C. L. (1995). Looking for a way to improve your behavior analysis lectures? Try guided notes. The Behavior Analyst, 18, 155-160. Benjamin, L. T. (1991). Personalization and active learning in the large introductory psychology class. Teaching of Psychology, 18(2), 68-74. Bloom, B. S. (1984). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. 1. Cognitive Domain. New York: Longman. Boud, D., Cohen, R., & Sampson, J. (1999). Peer learning and assessment. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 24, 413-426. Boyce, T. E., & Hineline, P. N. (2002). Interteaching: A strategy for enhancing the userfriendliness of behavioral arrangements in the college classroom. The Behavior Analyst, 25, 215-226.
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Buskist, W., Sikorski, J., Buckley, T., & Saville, B. K. (2002). Elements of master teaching. In S. F. Davis & W. Buskist (Eds.), The teaching of psychology: Essays in honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie and Charles L. Brewer (pp. 27-39). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Candy, P., Crebert, G., & O’Leary, J. (1994). Developing Lifelong Learners Through Undergraduate Education. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Serviceo. Document Number) Carini, R. M., Kuh, G. D., & Klein, S. P. (2006). Student engagement and student learning: Testing the linkages. Research in Higher Education, 47, 1-32. Carroll, D. (2001). Using ignorance questions to promote thinking skills. Teaching of Psychology, 28, 98 - 100 Cherney, I. D. (2008). The effects of active learning on students' memories for course content. Active Learning in Higher Education, 9(2), 152-171. Dietz-Uhler, B., & Lanter, J. (2009). Using the four-questions technique to enhance learning. Teaching of Psychology, 36, 38 - 41. Drabick, D., Weisberg, R., Paul, L., & Bubier, J. (2007). Keeping It short and sweet: Brief, ungraded writing assignments facilitate. Teaching of Psychology, 34, 172-176. Eyre, H. L. (2007). Keller’s Personalized System of Instruction: Was it a fleeting fancy or is there a revival on the horizon? The Behavior Analyst Today, 8(3), 317-324. Griffin, M. M., & Griffin, B. W. (1998). An investigation of the effects of reciprocal peer tutoring on achievement, self-efficacy, and test anxiety. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 23(3), 298-311. Halpern, D. F. (2004). Creating cooperative learning environments. In L. I. M. B. Perlman, & S.H. McFadden (Ed.), Lessons learned: Practical advice for the teaching of psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 149-155). Washington DC: American Psychological Association. Keller, F. S. (1968). Good-bye teacher... Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 79-89. Kuh, G. D. (2003). What we're learning about student engagement form the NSSE: Benchmarks for effective educational practices. Change, 35, 24–32. Kulik, C. C., Kulik, J. A., & Bangert-Drowns, R. L. (1990). Effectiveness of mastery learning programs: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 60(265-299). Lake, D. A. (2000). Active learning: Student performance and perceptions compared with lecture. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on College Teaching and Learning, Jacksonville, FL. Lawson, T. J., Bodle, J., & McDonough, T. (2007). Techniques for increasing student learning from educational videos: Notes versus guiding. Teaching of Psychology, 34, 9093. Lawson, T. J., Bodle, J. H., Houlette, M. A., & Haubner, R. R. (2006). Guiding questions enhance student learning from educational videos. Teaching of Psychology, 33, 31-33. McKeachie, W. J., & Hofer, B. (1999). McKeachie's teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co. Miserandino, M. (1998). Those who can do: Implementing active learning. In Lessons Learned (Vol 1), Eds. B. Perlman, L.I. McCann & S.H. McFadden (pp. 109-114). Washington DC: American Psychological Society. Murphy, P. (1999). Learners, Learning and Assessment. London: Paul Chapman. Narloch, R., Garbin, C. P., & Turnage, K. D. (2006). Benefits of prelecture quizzes. Teaching of Psychology, 33(2), 109-112.
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National Survey of Student Engagement (2008). Promoting engagement for all students: The imperative to look within. Retrieved February 27, 2009, from http://nsse.iub.edu/ NSSE_2008_Results/ docs/withhold/NSSE2008_Results_revised_11-14-2008.pdf. Pintrich, P. R., Brown, D. R., & Weinstein, C. E. (1994). Student motivation, cognition, and learning: Essays in honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Saville, B. K. (2006). From sage on the stage to guide on the side: An alternative approach to teaching research methods. Paper presented at the Annual Teaching Institute, Association for Psychological Science, New York, NY. Saville, B. K., Zinn, T. E., & Elliott, M. P. (2005). Interteaching versus traditional methods of instruction: A preliminary analysis. Teaching of Psychology, 32(3), 161-163. Saville, B. K., Zinn, T. E., Neef, N. A., Van Norman, R., & Ferreri, S. J. (2006). A comparison of interteaching and lecture in the college classroom. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 39, 49-61. Schaeffer, G., Epting, K., Zinn, T., & Buskist, W. (2003). Student and faculty perceptions of effective teaching: A successful replication. Teaching of Psychology, 30(2), 133-136. Scoboria, A., & Pascual-Leone, J. A. (In press). Using interteaching in large undergraduate psychology classes: Better writing, better grades. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.. Staarman, J. K., Krol, K., & Meijden, H. (2005). Peer interaction in three collaborative learning environments. Journal of Classroom Interaction, 40(1), 29-39. Van Boxtel, C., van der Linden, J., & Kanselaar, G. (2000). Collaborative learning tasks and the elaboration of conceptual knowledge. Learning and Instruction, 10, 311-330. Webb, N. M. (1991). Task-related verbal interaction and mathematics learning in small groups. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 22, 366-389. Yoder, J. D., & Hochevar, C. M. (2005). Encouraging active learning can improve students' performance on examinations. Teaching of Psychology, 32(2), 91-95.
In: Developments in Higher Education Editor: Mary Lee Albertson
ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5 © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 3
WHAT DO TRAINEE TEACHERS KNOW AND WHAT DO THEY THINK ABOUT SOCIAL STUDIES? Jesús Estepa1 and José María Cuenca2 Department of Sciencie and Philosophy Teaching, Education Sciencies Faculty; The University of Huelva, Spain
ABSTRACT One of the fundamental problems facing initial teacher training is the development of effective training programmes to raise the quality of teaching and tackle the demands that trainees will meet when they enter the profession. Our perspective adopts a constructivist approach, whereby understanding the working conceptions and knowledge of trainees, and developing these over the course of their university studies, enables us to improve the impact of initial training on professional practice. This chapter presents a summary of various studies we have conducted into initial university training at Nursery, Primary and Secondary levels within the area of the Social Sciences over the last ten years. A common theme is the analysis of prospective teachers’ pedagogic content knowledge in respect of areas which we consider essential for their professional development, such as history, heritage and society, both contemporary and historical. The studies foreground the trainees’ predominating professional knowledge with respect to their scientific, pedagogical and curricular conceptions in the field of the Social Sciences, and this enables us to detect obstacles to the structuring of professional knowledge in keeping with the principles that we consider desirable for the training of reflective, critical and innovative teachers.
1 2
[email protected] [email protected]
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INTRODUCTION Teacher education courses within social studies in Spanish universities concentrate their efforts on enabling trainee teachers to learn to teach. The programmes tend to lack empirical grounding, and in general few connections are made between theory and practice. Furthermore, contradictions can be found between a progressive rhetoric and a traditional classroom practice. These features of teacher training might be found in other countries and other training programmes, as educational research has shown the scant influence of training courses upon improving teaching, revealing the impossibility of focusing professional practice as a simple application of learnt theory (Banks & Parker, 1990). Hence ‘novice teachers know a lot of general theoretical principles, but do not know how to put these into practice when it comes to responding to the needs of particular students in particular situations,’ such that ‘on exhausting their scant resources, they resort to known traditional models of teaching because these offer them the necessary security to survive’ (Benejam, 1993, p. 345). We therefore think it essential to develop a body of research which takes a much more systematic approach to the problems relating to teacher education, which we consider the key component in the processes of teaching and learning (Thornton, 2005). This has been our guiding philosophy over the twenty conferences that have been held in Spain by the University Association of Teacher Educators for Social Studies, and more specifically, in various monographs on the problems relating to teacher education in these disciplines (Ávila, López and Fernández, 2007; Gómez and Núñez, 2006; Estepa, de la Calle and Sánchez, 2002; Pagès, Estepa and Travé, 2000). Following Adler (2008, p. 333), we can identify five areas requiring greater research: • •
• • •
What are current practices in social studies teacher education and what impact do they have on pre-service teacher beliefs, attitudes and practice? What do we know about the beliefs and attitudes of social studies teacher candidates and teachers, and what do we know about factors which may contribute to a restructuring of those beliefs and attitudes? What do we know about the content knowledge and the development of pedagogical content knowledge of social studies teacher candidates? What is known about social studies teacher educators, and what can be learned from self-studies conducted by teacher educators? How have policy initiatives and politics affected teacher education programs and participants?
From our perspective, the relationship between theory and practice is at the heart of the teacher education process, and the predominant university teacher training approaches fail to promote a professional knowledge which adequately brings together theoretical knowledge and professional experience. The acquisition of this theoretical knowledge is influenced by knowledge of and ideas about social studies, its teaching and the teaching profession in general. In reviewing research on the issue we can note that there is general agreement that trainee teachers have explicit and implicit conceptions about the different variables relating to social studies teaching, and that these ideas are not easily changed by teacher education
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programmes, although better results have been reported in those studies taking a constructivist approach. There is also general agreement in pointing out the need to research these conceptions, to probe the difficulties and obstacles to developing them, and based on this research, to design and test training programmes which facilitate teachers’ professional development and through these, the personal development of the students (Estepa, Ávila & Ruiz, 2007; Estepa, Ávila & Ferreras, 2008).
TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHING Professional knowledge is for us the sum of all the teacher’s knowledge and experience acquired throughout his or her career with respect to their specific area of expertise. In this sense, analysis of the issue concerning learning to teach must begin with the construction of conceptual networks through which trainees’ generally disparate and fragmentary knowledge can be articulated (Montero, 1992). For this to be achieved, it is essential to develop processes of significant learning, with all that this implies: analysis of pre-existing notions, understanding of the processes of trainees’ cognitive development, starting with the immediate context and tending towards abstraction and a greater degree of complexity in what is learnt, approaches to practice, amongst other relevant aspects. Research into professional knowledge concerns the analysis of what the teacher should know, and know how to do, in order to teach, the defining features of this knowledge, the real chances of its development and the alternatives for possible and desirable change, and in our case, what contribution social studies education can make towards this knowledge so as to enable the teacher to undertake the gradual process of transforming their social studies teaching, always with the aim of learning to teach (Estepa, 2000). In the area of social studies education, research has centred on delimiting Pedagogical Content Knowledge (Shulman, 1986), referring to knowledge of those specific aspects of teaching and learning which make social studies accessible to students. We can approach this knowledge through analysis of the teacher’s practice and conceptions in relation to why social studies is taught, how students’ difficulties with the subject are tackled, how the curriculum is taught and what strategies are employed for its teaching. Pedagogical Content Knowledge is a crucial element within the range of knowledge required for teaching. If teachers need to know the general fundamentals of pedagogy, psychology and so on, they equally need to have a sound knowledge of the content they are to teach. Nevertheless, this content needs to be transformed, adapted and reorganised in such a way as to make it understandable to the students. In this sense, García Díaz and García Pérez (2001) consider that to develop this process, from an integrative and complex perspective, it is essential to take into account knowledge of one’s own practice and others which they denominate metadisciplinary. With all this, from our point of view, this Pedagogical Content Knowledge will include (table 1) one’s own knowledge and reflection on: a) the specific social studies subject content relevant to its teaching in a specific teaching context; b) pedagogical strategies for carrying out the processes of teaching/learning in relation to these contents; c) potential difficulties in teaching these contents; d) the conceptions of these contents that the students hold at different
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stages of their school life ; e) the curricular specifications currently in force; f) the practice of the teaching and learning process in general, and social studies in particular; and g) metadisiplinary elements which might contribute relevant nodes of connection for teaching these topics (Cuenca, Domínguez & Estepa, 2000). In this way we note our reservations regarding Shulman’s model in respect of the inclusion of the teacher’s conceptions of teaching the topic in this section, which should in our opinion be categorised within the section corresponding to the teacher’s conceptions. Despite this, we are aware of the fact that the analysis of these conceptions is a habitual and sometimes unique way of arriving at the teacher’s knowledge as it is information which is explicitly offered by the teacher him or herself or which is inferred from their statements and actions, playing an important role in Pedagogical Content Knowledge, in the same way as other components which also interrelate with it. Curricular knowledge concerns the national curriculum specifications for social studies in terms of objectives, contents, methodology and evaluation, and consists in knowing and giving critical consideration to the relevant legislation. In large part it is determined by the teacher’s academic background, their teaching experience and the provisions of their training programme. It includes curricular design, curricular theory and anticipated curricular developments within the subject area. Table 1. The organisation and structure of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (Cuenca, 2004)
The remaining components of include, as in the case above, the teacher’s professional and student experiences during training, and accumulated academic studies, along with their conceptions of social studies teaching/learning. That is to say, it consists of the knowledge of both the subject to be taught and other related subjects and their pedagogical concerns.
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TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT As University teacher educators, we are interested in improving the impact of initial teacher education programmes and in facilitating teachers’ professional development. We consider three factors as central to this process: the development of conceptions (and the coherence between those stated and those actually put into practice) as an element of professional knowledge; the growth in the capacity for reflection about, on and for practice (Schön, 1987); and the concept of teacher identity as something incorporating trainee and practising teachers’ images of themselves as members of a particular social group. In this way, we can get closer to knowing how professional development might affect the learning of future teachers and their potential future students (Van Hover, 2008). The key focus must be the identification of practice with the design and delivery of the curriculum, and its questioning with experimentation in teams of proposals and curricular projects in an activity of practice, checking and evaluation, so that the value of the curriculum is not simply that of being the medium for improving education, but an expression of ideas for improving teachers in their daily practice (Stenhouse, 1991). In this way, we link professional development to research into trainee teachers based on dealing with curricular problems (Porlán and Rivero, 1998), given that the curriculum represents the tool teachers work with in the classroom, thus relating theory and practice, reflection and action, school knowledge and professional knowledge, group and individual development3. Regarding this latter aspect, and in spite of the new forms of individualism which are being developed in the global society4, professional development implies improvement in a team, collegiate, collaborative, cooperative because, at least in the obligatory school years, curricular projects should pursue the complete training of students, their education as human beings, beyond subject divisions and specialities, the dialogue and communication between professionals with the same objective being indispensable (Álvarez Méndez, 2001); because this task, which recognises the capacity for professional decision-making as opposed to mere executor of prescriptions elaborated by others (the official curriculum, textbooks, etc), cannot be approached individually5; furthermore, in not working as a team, as Santos (1994) warns, the school structures remain intact and do not transform or generate dynamism; finally, because the definition of the primary teacher’s development as an activity which each person has to carry out individually limits the possibilities of this development to a large extent, in 3
Keiny (1994) distinguishes two interdependent contexts for professional development: one social and theoretical, the other practical. The first refers to a group n which teachers can express and exchange ideas and reconstruct their pedagogic knowledge through a dialectic process. The second is constituted by the teacher’s daily practice, where he or she can put new ideas into practice and reflect about (or on) the experience. From our perspective, the difference lies not so much in the theoretical or practical nature, as in both cases the teacher works with the curriculum, but in the social and individual dimension of professional development. 4 Cf Appel (1997) who offers and interesting analysis of this phenomenon in the USA, the intrusion of technical checking systems in teachers’ work through “predesigned curricular material packs”, in which if everything is predetermined, separating planning and delivery, there is no longer any pressing need for interaction among the teaching staff, and they become disconnected individuals, divorced from their colleagues and their real work. 5 In this sense Beyer and Liston (2001) report that all too frequently teachers can devote little attention to questions of the curriculum, and very often they are forced to complete the curricular design alone. ‘Based on our experience of working with teachers on curricular design and on our reflection on the curriculum, two factors seem to be decisive to this aim. Planning the curriculum is most productive if it is, at least in part, a question of collaboration, and if adequate time and working conditions are available. (p.238).
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not considering reflection as a social practice in which groups of primary teachers can support and maintain the professional development of each participant (Zeichner, & Hoeft, 1996). We concur with Valli and Stout (2004) that ‘professional development must help teachers understand the discipline they are teaching together with the content standards and the assessments, connect teachers with adequate resources, give clear guidance on what students are expected to do, and provide a continuous and supportive framework for their reform efforts’ (p. 184). On the other hand, in order to analyse the degree of growth or development that the teacher experiences as a professional from his or her initial training, we consider the idea of desirable professional knowledge as a system of ideas with distinct levels of specification and articulation which can progress (Porlán and Rivero, 1998) very useful. Hence, we establish a hypothesis of progression of professional development as a gradation in the construction of professional knowledge from simplifying, reductionist, static and acritical perspectives, which would correspond to the more traditional models of teaching, towards other models more coherent with alternatives of a constructivist and investigative nature, passing through intermediate or transitional levels (technological and spontaneous) which in part supersede the traditional model but still display some obstacles to be overcome. Working with a hypothesis of this kind does not mean closing the teacher’s curriculum, as it does not necessarily mean that the primary teacher and the trainee primary teacher have to run the course of this professional development, nor even that their conceptions fit neatly into one of the levels. More accurately, it is a question of having available a frame of reference which allows us to intervene in the training process to detect difficulties and obstacles which will have to be overcome with the help of the appropriate training strategies. The following section presents a summary of the different research projects we have developed in the last ten years based on this theoretical framework. These studies focus on the question raised by Adler (2008) about the analysis of trainee teachers’ conceptions, as one of the fundamental lines of study in educational research. We have analysed the content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of prospective primary and secondary teachers in areas which we consider basic for their professional development: history, heritage and contemporary and historical societies.
SCHOOL KNOWLEDGE IN SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION PROGRAMMES This study aimed to contribute to our understanding of what happens and why when we do Social Studies teaching, describing and analysing what a university teacher (working under the limitations of tradition, the syllabus, the organisation and structure of the post, the social image of teaching and their own professional background) does in order to train prospective primary teachers. Here, the research line followed was what Dinkelman (2003) calls self-study, as an intentional and systematic inquiry into one’s own practice. The study did not intend to make any proposals for teacher training, nor evaluate how this training might be improved were the, essentially external, obstacles constraining our work to be removed, but instead it offered a report on, and analysis of, a teacher education programme, attempting to find coherence between its theoretical underpinnings and its practice and following a research-based
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model as its theoretical referent (Porlán et al. 2001; Porlán, Martín del Pozo & Martín Toscano, 2002). In this way, what is presented below is the design and delivery of a specific syllabus for a specific subject taught to a group of students, although it is true that this programme was extendable to other students of other courses and that each year the plan of work and its carrying out were reviewed and contrasted with colleagues, incorporating the modifications suggested by this process of reflection, in a dynamic process in which a coherence was sought with the model of the teacher-researcher we postulate. The course, Social Studies Teaching, formed part of the qualification in Primary Teaching specialising in the Human Sciences in the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Huelva. Although the course had been running since 1994/95, the data used in the study were drawn from the years 1995/96 and 1996/97, during which the programme saw various adaptations according to the students’ interests and the gaps in their knowledge, discussion with colleagues working within similar areas and the trainer’s own reflections on how the course worked in practice (Estepa, 1998). The syllabus for this qualification was structured according to an academic model of teacher training with a focus that was basically encyclopaedic (Gimeno and Pérez, 1993) in which the trainer was conceived of as a specialist in the various disciplines comprising his or her speciality and whose background was closely linked to a mastery of these, the contents of which what was to be taught. As a result, such weight was given to the academic aspects of the desirable professional knowledge (Porlan and Rivero, 1998), and especially the disciplines relating to the contents (in a model diametrically opposed to that enshrined in the new syllabuses for primary education, where the disciplines relating to teaching and learning predominate), that there was scant opportunity for professional development within the course. All this is to be found in the ongoing debate over whether training programmes should be based on academic disciplines, or focus on the development of skills and abilities so as to construct a curriculum facilitating the acquisition of citizen competences in a democratic society (Nelson, 2001; Evans, 2004; Whitson, 2004; Van Hover, 2008), from a perspective of professional development which is far more critical and coherent with our present society (Armento, 1996). We ensured that the limitations imposed on us by the syllabus did not represent an insurmountable obstacle to adapting the design of the course to a more practical and critical model. This was achieved by establishing a course dynamic in which the 14 trainees making up the group would plan and prepare five teaching units, each with its corresponding objectives, subject content, activities and bibliography. The underlying methodological principle was the correlation between the mode of operating during the course itself and the pedagogical model being promoted, referred to by Porlán and Rivero (1998) as the principle of isomorphism, in that the medium frequently becomes the message. Specifically, and following Cañal’s (2000) classification, classes were comprised by opportunities for the students to express their knowledge, opinions and personal experiences (all the teaching units began by exploring existing conceptions of the topic in hand), planning sessions, discussions, and presentations of academic topics. Each class typically finished with a review of what had been learnt and the processes followed in relation to the initial knowledge.
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Although we are unable to go into a description of the teaching units or the activities devised, we can highlight some of the outcomes of this formative experience. Below is a brief selection of the students’ opinions of what the social studies meant for them. “My ideas have changed a lot. My idea of a Social Studies teacher was what is commonly called lecturing. Now, with this kind of teaching I’ve learnt that the lessons have to be more active. As prospective teachers, we have the added handicap that we were taught by traditional means.” (José Manuel) “I’d consider it fundamental, but basing myself on what the kids know and what interests them.” (Matías) “Well, the teacher isn’t merely someone who narrates all the facts and events, not only do they have to teach, they also have to transmit a set of values, educate the students and help them to understand the society they live in. Maybe because this course has made me see another view of the teacher, and because in teaching practice you see that just presenting information doesn’t work, for that you’ve got the media (books, maps, CDs etc). You have to know how to reach out to the students, make them participants and actors every moment they are studying. Methodology has managed to change the traditional models, where you gave a lecture, to new models which are more innovative and participatory, to an understanding of the importance of the reciprocal relationship between teacher and student.” (José) Nevertheless, the task of training primary teachers in social studies is, as Adler (1991) points out, problematic, for which reason it is necessary to continue the research into the factors influencing the thinking and action of trainee teachers and, in short, the teachers responsible for teaching social studies in school. In this regard, we know that professional development is a slow and complex process, and the changes that might occur during the course of initial training programmes tend to favour, according to the hypothesis of progression in professional development which we take as reference, innovation in both attitude and action, and a break with the tendency towards curricular uniformity. In summary, it is a question of beginning a process of change which breaks with the traditional pedagogic model, which, without doubt, in many cases, does not provide any kind of professional development towards models of a technological or spontaneity-oriented nature, since, as Schön (1987) notes, novice teachers’ pedagogical thinking, fed a theory rich diet during their years of academic training, tends towards simplification and becomes emasculated as a result of the processes of institutionalisation during their first years in the profession. Nonetheless, and without being ingenuous, we believe that for some a long process will have begun towards becoming teachers committed to teaching and society, capable of making reasoned decisions in their professional practice.
TEMPORAL NOTIONS: THE CONTENT KNOWLEDGE AND PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF PRIMARY TEACHER TRAINEES One cannot question the importance given to the knowledge of educational psychology in teacher education programmes, but at the same time, the same importance should be given to subject content of the disciplines concerned and, of course, to the corresponding pedagogical knowledge. Taking this as its starting point, this next study considered the following problem:
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do trainee primary teachers possess by the end of their studies sufficient knowledge of the subject content and sufficient basic pedagogical knowledge to teach social studies? On this occasion the study consisted in creating a questionnaire on knowledge of temporal notions, which was completed by trainee teachers in their final year of the qualification for Primary Teaching in the Faculty of Education Sciences at the University of Huelva. This same group had done a module on the treatment of heritage in social studies the previous year, and so already had some degree of familiarity with contents and strategies for teaching historical notions (Cuenca, Domínguez & Estepa, 2000). The questionnaire was completed by 55 students in the academic year 1998/99, and was designed with two considerations in mind. On the one hand, it included questions aimed at discovering the historical knowledge the respondents had of the concept of time and its relevance to education. On the other hand, a second section aimed to uncover pedagogical knowledge, specifically what subject content they would select and what strategies they would employ in the teaching of notions of time. Prominent amongst the findings of this study was the fact that the trainees’ content knowledge was not the most desirable, as the data brought to the fore significant gaps in key areas and some of the fundamental concepts of the disciplines they were to teach. For example, there was widespread confusion in the difference between notions of time and the units for measuring time. The majority confused the concept of time with that of its measurement, without recognising that the measurement of time is just one aspect, and, according to certain epistemological viewpoints, secondary to historical-temporal studies. Also significant was the lack of critical and interpretative viewpoints of societies, achieved through a temporal analysis, which permitted the projection of certain problems and situations towards the present time, and this indicated that their knowledge did not achieve the desired level of temporal abstraction. It seemed that their notion of teaching students concepts related to time was essentially one of providing them with a sense of chronology. Another finding which we consider important was the high valuation given by the trainee teachers to the disciplines relating to the processes of teaching/learning, leaving the educational sciences in a secondary role. The fact that the course Social Studies Pedagogy failed to appear in any case should give us cause to rethink the approach we take in their training, as, from what we learnt from the study, the trainee teachers are unaware of important areas in developing the processes of teaching/learning, which are doubtlessly related to these specific pedagogies. It was also noted in this study that the best known and most prominent contents were those in the concepts category, although the trainees did not have a full grasp of these. This could have been the result of their schooling, but nevertheless, the procedures of each discipline for teaching temporal notions are far less known and applied, resulting in them being given far less importance than concepts. Finally, attitudinal considerations scarcely appeared at all. In other words, concepts, facts and information continue to predominate, albeit implicitly, in teachers’ professional knowledge, despite the fact that in theory the three areas (concepts, procedures and attitudes) share equal importance. In this respect, serious problems were detected in characterising procedural contents, undoubtedly due to a lack of familiarity with both the area itself and its teaching. For their part, attitudinal contents drew a highly generalised treatment: dialogue, group work, obeying rules and so on, due, as in the above case, to a lack of familiarity with what values could imbue temporal notions.
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The conclusion to be derived from the foregoing was the urgent need prioritise the attention given to pedagogical content knowledge in the teacher education programme, taking a fundamentally practical approach and making adjustments to the university syllabus where necessary. The changes implied an increase in the number of classes, a redistribution of the timetable amongst the various areas of knowledge, and a more rigorous approach to key aspects within social studies, all with the objective of improving the professional development of the trainee teachers. To this end, we must reinforce teacher education towards a professionalised knowledge of the discipline (its basic conceptual structure, analytical procedures and so on), so as to foment the ability to select, sequence and organise school knowledge, as well as to develop pedagogical content knowledge, as a practical and professionalised area, going more deeply into curricular considerations, in our case those concerning historical-temporal notions.
NOVICE TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF THE MEANING OF HERITAGE AS AN ELEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY Through other studies carried out by our research team, we were able to ascertain that the level of trainees’ reflection on heritage and its value in construing identity was somewhat basic and simple, at times predicated on principles of exclusion in which heritage is employed as a differentiating element rather than something promoting multicultural respect. With respect to trainees’6 conceptions of heritage and its value in representing societal identity, the findings of study by Cuenca and Domínguez (2002) are of interest. These researchers based their study on a questionnaire with three questions relating to this issue: “What do you understand by cultural heritage?”; “What criteria would you employ to decide what counts as heritage?” and “What world heritage sites would you consider paramount to preserve faced with a natural or human disaster, giving reasons for your choice?” The responses, as might be expected, varied widely and raised interesting considerations regarding the respondents’ views of heritage and identity. Table 2 presents some of these responses, clearly relating heritage with identity. The data show how part of the sample understand the relation between heritage and the awareness of identity. It strikes us as interesting that there was little mention made of the concept of symbol in relation to those of heritage and identity given that from our point of view, we consider the three to be fundamental to the process of constructing identity. It should also be noted that in none of the cases analysed was there any reference to the value of heritage as a means of unifying or making cultural connections between societies, a situation we find worrying, as mentioned above, for which reason we feel it is essential to include this aspect in future teaching programmes (Domínguez & Cuenca, 2005). Some of the responses entail a more complex conception, suggesting connections between identity, heritage, history and the socio-natural environment in which cultures develop. Others focus more on the intrinsic value of heritage as a source of identity, and stressing the importance of conservation in terms of its cultural symbolism. On the other hand, we find statements which could be construed as endorsing differentiation and social
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exclusion. This suggests that the use of heritage in the construction of identity could bring with it the danger of promoting attitudes in conflict with the objectives we propose. It is necessary, as a result, to always be aware of what and how we are teaching students when we introduce this subject. Table 2. Definitions of the term ‘heritage’ by the sample Those artefacts which identify a culture, considered as irreplaceable entities that have played a part in historical events or natural environments. Symbols of identity which we must know, conserve and protect. Everything that defines us as a culture and the way we feel and conceptualise our uniqueness as a community. All our symbols of identity across the range, which identify us and are exclusive to us. All legacy which enriches today’s culture (...) Everything that identifies and characterises an autonomous society, making it share the same culture. All types of representation identifying a people, a region or a nation together with its members. All those cultural artefacts which arise from society or which have arisen throughout history, and which are identifiable characteristics of that society. The sum of artefacts (...) which serve to represent the identity of a community, and which should be transmitted and conserved. Everything that is representative of an area, country, etc.
In general, in the case of the Primary Teaching trainees, 21% of the sample considered the relevance of heritage in terms of its symbolism for the creation and understanding of cultural identity within society, whilst the majority (46%) gave prominence to its importance as a purely historic item (figure 1). Trainee primary teachers' view of heritage 46
50 40 30,5 30
21 20 10
2,5
0 Monumentalist
estheticism
Historicist
Identity
Figure 1.
A larger proportion of the Secondary Teaching trainees, on the other hand, some 27.5%, considered the value of heritage in terms of identity, although as above, the majority, 62%, gave consideration to its historic aspect (figure 2). 6
The sample taken for this study consisted of 80 students from the qualification for Primary Teaching and 27 students from the CAP (Secondary Teaching Certificate), all studying at the University of Huelva in 2000/01.
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Trainee secondary teachers' view of heritage (Social Studies)
70
62
60 50 40
27,5
30 20 10
3,5
7
0 Monumentalist
estheticism
Historicist
Identity
Figure 2.
The low number of trainees that considered heritage as an important component in the collective construction of identity can be understood if we take into account the serious deficiencies in the initial training of these professionals. We can identify this lack, on the one hand, as an absence of specific material regarding heritage, knowledge of it, reflection upon its value, and how it might be incorporated into teaching, and on the other, as the fault of the sources of basic information and training at the current time (legislation and textbooks), which in general do not offer an appropriate focus such that teachers develop in their students a view of heritage centred on multicultural principles of valuing one’s own and others’ identities.
A STUDY OF TRAINEE PRIMARY TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF TEACHING AND THEIR TRAINING IN RESPECT OF CONTEMPORARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETIES The aim of this study was to discover the conceptions that trainee primary teachers had of teaching Contemporary and Historical Societies, and their training in this particular so-called Area of Inquiry (here, the project ‘Investigating our World’7), to identify their level of development and to detect potential obstacles to the growth of their professional knowledge. Thus it focused on the exploration of knowledge about curricular conceptions and primary teacher training, with respect to a specific area of social studies about which the literature review provided no previous studies (Estepa, 2003).
7
Cf Cañal, Pozuelos and Travé (2005); one aspect of the Areas is that of being scaffolding or organisers for preservice and/or in-service primary training, in that they represent support and foundation material for the design of innovative teaching units.
Table 3. Categories, subcategories, indicators and descriptors for the analysis of trainee primary teachers’ conceptions of teaching contemporary and historical societies. Authors’ data CATEGORY I. CURRICULAR CONCEPTIONS OF CONTEMPORARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETIES.
SUBCATEGORIES 1. Purpose of education.
INDICATORS Traditional Technological Spontaneity-oriented Investigative
2. Sources for determining school knowledge.
Traditional Technological Spontaneity-oriented Investigative
3. Conceptions of students’ learning difficulties.
Traditional Technological Spontaneity-oriented Investigative Traditional Technological Spontaneity-oriented
4. Methodology of teaching..
Investigative
5. Evaluation.
Traditional Technological Spontaneity-oriented Investigative
DESCRIPTORS To provide the student with fundamental information about contemporary and historical societies. From to facilitate Social Studies learning to so that the student learns how to behave in the social environment independently and critically. So that the steady enriching of the students’ knowledge allows them to understand contemporary societies and to act within them. No differentiation between school contents and scientific-disciplinary knowledge. From adaptation of subject contents, considering psychological variables, to selection of school content according to the interests and experiences of the students. Importance of procedures and values.. School contents are considered a complex and differentiated construction drawn from a variety of sources: subjects, everyday knowledge, socio-environmental issues and metadisciplinary knowledge. No recognition of learning difficulties or conceptual barriers. Conceptual and procedural or attitudinal and procedural barriers. Conceptual, procedural and attitudinal barriers. Teacher exposition and exercises from the textbook. Individual work. few pedagogical resources. From plan of progressive activities, closed and detailed according to the objectives, with predominance of individual work and various pedagogical resources used in closed fashion, to general plan of activities based on the performance of different types of task but without a guiding thread, with a predominance of group work and various pedagogical resources used asystematically. Inquiry oriented towards relevant socio-environmental problems with a plan of activities with a planned guiding thread. Individual and group work. Various pedagogical resources used as means in the plan of activities. Terminal, examination based, memory and exercises evaluated. Sanctioning grades. De “objective” initial and terminal evaluation for measuring the degree to which objectives are met to periodical evaluation based on class meetings to evaluate the psycho-social dynamics from a nonsanctioning perspective. Continuous and process, based on different instruments. The development of students’ ideas, class dynamic, curricular hypotheses and the teacher’s impact are all evaluated. Non-sanctioning and investigative.
Table 3. (Continued). CATEGORY II. CONCEPTIONS ABOUT TRAINING IN THE AI.
SUBCATEGORIES 6. Academic learning in professional knowledge.
INDICATORS Traditional Technological Spontaneity-oriented Investigative
7. The AI of contemporary societies in teacher education.
Traditional Technological Spontaneity-oriented Investigative
DESCRIPTORS Disciplines related to contents. From disciplines related to contents, learning and education together, to only educational psychological disciplines. Disciplines related to contents, learning and education, differentiating Social Studies Pedagogy as an integrative area of knowledge. For training in the contents to be taught. From for training in the contents to be taught and in the mastery of appropriate techniques and skills to be developed in class to to learn how to teach. To facilitate the development of the curriculum with respect to the contents in a critical, investigative and reflective fashion.
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Given that it was a study of trainee primary teachers’ conceptions about aspects of the curriculum within the sphere of contemporary and historical societies, and their training in respect of this, the two categories of analysis that were established were conceptions about the curriculum and conceptions about training (table 3).These categories were then subdivided into seven subcategories, and each of these into three indicators corresponding to the three levels of progression in professional knowledge from the hypothesis of progression which functioned as the frame of reference for the training, following the teacher-researcher model (Porlán et al. 2001; Porlán, Martín del Pozo & Martín Toscano, 2002). Finally, descriptors were devised for ascribing the trainees’ responses to the subcategories. The scarcity of previous studies and the suitability of using this study as a kind of trial run for the Area of Inquiry design (henceforth AI), along with human and time constraints, led us to the conclusion that the most suitable data collection instrument was the questionnaire, a frequently used format in this type of study. The final version included a total of 11 questions, distributed over the categories and subcategories mentioned above, all of which were open-ended so as to maximise the information gathered and minimise any inadvertent bias on the part of the researcher. The questionnaire was completed by a sample of 41 students in their second year of a Primary Teaching qualification at the University of Huelva during the academic year 2002/03, and were following the course Social Studies and its Teaching in the morning slot, the teacher of which was the researcher himself1. An initial teaching unit, prior to studying the AI design, had been developed within the specifications of the subject programme, so the trainees had at least some vague idea of the Areas of Inquiry system and how it guided the design and delivery of the curriculum. The context in which the study was carried out was characterised by two conditioning features: firstly, it was a study of declarative knowledge, as it concerned conceptions made explicit in answers to a questionnaire; secondly, the sample selected, formed exclusively by students of whom the researcher himself was teacher, were in their second year of training and at the time of the study had not yet done their first teaching practice, nor had they received any specific training on the AIs, as a result of which the study explored only their professional knowledge of theory. An effort was made to mitigate these features by means of a data collection instrument which was based on a practical supposition – the design of a teaching unit about contemporary and historical societies – with the aim that the completion of this task, in which the trainees would have to make concrete decisions for their practice, would activate a kind of thinking that was closer to their true professional knowledge. The data that we obtained through analysis of the trainees’ conceptions opened a window onto the knowledge they commanded in relation to the aspects of the curriculum involving contemporary and historical societies, and their training with respect to these. The degree of professional development of the sample, in keeping with our hypothesis of progression, was more advanced in areas dealing with the curriculum – where the majority of respondents were placed at intermediate or transitional levels across the range of subcategories – than in aspects of training, in which the majority of trainees were to be found in the first level, characteristic of the traditional tendency. This difference in the degree of professional development can perhaps be explained by the sample giving less thought to the process of their initial training, over which they felt that they had little influence. Whatever the case, we interpret the 1
For this reason personal details were not requested, nor were written instructions given on how to complete the questionnaire.
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importance accorded the disciplines to be taught and the pedagogical training for them as a deficiency in the current university syllabus, and as a gauge of the scant attention that it gives to Specific Pedagogies and, in particular, Social Studies Pedagogy.
A STUDY OF TRAINEE TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF THE EDUCATIONAL USE OF MUSEUMS This study, of a general nature, took a simple question as its starting point: what is the educational value of museums, and in what sense can they be put to use within the educational context? To find the answer, we focused on the analysis of the conceptions manifest by trainee secondary teachers specialising in Social Studies, Geography and History during the academic year 2004/05, taking a sample of 19 students. It was necessary to take into account that, with respect to such a specific topic as the analysis of trainee secondary teachers’ conceptions of the role of museums in education, very few previous studies were available, for which reason we decided, in the first place, to carry out a quantitative study of a descriptive nature with the intention of exploring the area of analysis and getting a general picture of the problems we were facing. Once the overall reach of the study had been determined, we carried out a qualitative analysis aimed at accounting for certain of the findings from the initial analysis through a particularised study of some of the most relevant and significant subjects, according to their answers to the questionnaire, so as to get a better understanding of the predominant conceptual framework of the sample being studied (Cuenca & Estepa, 2007). From our perspective, centred on prospective teachers, we felt it was a basic question to determine what features the predominating pedagogical content knowledge of trainee secondary teachers displayed in respect of the educational use of the heritage available in museums and similar institutions, and what differences this registered with the desirable pedagogical content knowledge, from an integrative, complex and critical perspective, all of which so as to be able to characterise a fundamental part of teachers’ professional knowledge and to reveal any possible deficiencies in their training. Thus we were able to specify more concrete questions relating to the basic research problem with respect to the conceptions that these trainee teachers had of the educational value of museums, the ends, contents, methodological strategies, material and resources, evaluation and difficulties which e can find and use in these institutions for the communication of heritage. As a result of the indicated problems and questions, we decided that the most relevant objective should be to make a contribution to the analysis of, and reflection on, the pedagogical content knowledge relating to heritage, through museums and their influence in teachers’ professional development, oriented towards improvements in social studies teacher education. In the course of this study, two research tools were designed following various studies (Ávila, 2001; Serrat, 2006) which had carried out similar studies to that presented here, and other research on methodological questions, including questionnaire design (Colás and Buendía, 1998; Wiersma, 2000), and the categorisation system for analysing the data (García Díaz et al., 1999; Cuenca, 2004).
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The data collection instrument consisted of a questionnaire which, after going through the validation process, was made up of eleven questions, three on the general characteristics of the sample, and eight addressing the problems which were the object of the study. These latter were phrased according to the different categories established for the data analysis, and the respective variables stipulated for each of them, with some of the questions addressing more than one of the variables in order to garner more information when it came to ascribing the responses to the various indicators. In its turn, the instrument for analysing the data consisted of a system of categories based on a hypothesis of professional development which guided the complete analytical process and as such, had to be made explicit when the questionnaire was designed for data collection. The categories, of which there were two, were subdivided, the first into two variables and the second into five, each with its corresponding indicators and descriptors to facilitate the analysis of the information (table 4). The data that was obtained and interpreted via the resultant instrument for analysis gave us an insight into the conceptions which the trainee teachers exhibited in relation to educational uses of museums. On this basis we were able to determine their level of professional development according to the design of a hypothesis of progression. This was made up of the different indicators from each variable in the study with respect to this topic, in gradual progression from the simplest to more complex conceptions. Beginning with the first category of the study, what stands out is the difference between the two variables which comprise it: with respect to the first variable, the majority of the sample are located at the most basic level of professional development (47.4%), while with respect to the second, the two largest groups, located at the second and third stages of progression, share the same percentage (42.1%). The divergence shown by these results, which we had expected to coincide to some degree, is explained less by a developed conception of the educational ends of museums, and more by the formulation of the question addressing the second variable, in which the examples given in choices of answer were ascribed to the higher levels of the model. It cannot be claimed, therefore, that the trainees’ conceptions of the educational use of museums represented the most desirable levels according to our view, simply that in this instance they had selected specific aspects which could be interesting within the educational sphere, a situation which is also evident, along similar lines, in the studies of Bravo (2000) and Cuenca (2003). In the second category of the study, an intermediate level of professional development predominated with respect to the variables ‘type of activity’ and ‘resources and materials’, and a basic level in the case of ‘the role of the student’ and ‘the teacher’s skills’. The only variable which remained outside this general tendency was that of ‘evaluation’, which was notable for the predominance of the third level of professional progression. We therefore gave significance to the first and second levels across the full range of the category concerning the methodology of incorporating the museum into teaching and treated the result of the sixth variable (‘evaluation’) as an anomaly whose data did not seem to be representative of the sample when the general results of the category were taken into account.
Table 4. System of categories for analysis of the information CATEGORIES I. PURPOSE AND ROLE OF MUSEUMS IN SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHING/LEARNING
VARIABLES 1. Educational objetives of museums
INDICATORS 1. Cultural 2. Practical 3. Critical
2. Educational contents of museums
1. No integration 2. Simple integration 3. Complex integration
II. METHODOLOGY FOR PEDAGOGICAL INVOLVEMENT OF MUSEUMS IN SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHING/LEARNING
3. Type of activities
4. Role of student
1. Complementary 2. Practical 3. Investigative 1. Receiver 2. Receiver -Emitter 3. Co-designer
5. Materials and resources
1. Object of education 2. Means of education 3. Source of knowledge
6. Evaluation
1. Conceptual-terminal 2. Process-practical 3. Process-integrative
7. Teacher skills
1. Academic perspective. 2. Technical-practical perspective 3. Critical perspective
DESCRIPTORS References only to achieving cultural learning: information, facts, dates. References to achieving learning which leads to developing practical facets through the use of different instruments and resources. References to involvement in conservation and the view of heritage as imbuing identity, implying problem-solving. Attention given to only one type of content, whether conceptual, procedural or attitudinal. Integration of two types of content in the course of the visit (C-P; C-A; P-A). Integration of the three types of content in the course of the visit, relating them specifically to a specific socio-cultural problem. Reviewing, complementing and/or checking theory. Developing and attending to practical aspects. Problem-solving and inquiry-based activities. Participates in activities exclusively as receiver of transmitted concepts. Participates in activities as receiver and transmitter of concepts. Process of receiving, reformulating and communicating the information. Participates in the design of the activities, fully integrated in the process of transmitting the contents from a multi-directional perspective. The material as an end in itself (learning to use the material). Supporting and illustrating the teacher’s exposition. As a source of knowledge about which to develop significant learning through inquirybased activities and self-critical work. Final evaluation centred on concepts that can be observed during the visit. Evaluation of the process, centred on procedural and attitudinal contents. Interconnected evaluation of process and product (conceptual, procedural and attitudinal contents), providing inquiry-oriented activities. Teacher as transmitter of pre-determined knowledge and expert in material to be learnt. Mastery of techniques, procedures and abilities relating to material to be learnt. Teacher as professional who reflects, diagnoses, investigates and takes decisions, aware of the ethical nature of his/her work.
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CONCLUSION As has been seen, we have presented a series of studies which share a similar methodological design: the use of a questionnaire as an instrument of the first order, and of a system of categories for analysis of the information, which incorporates various subcategories or variables, indicators and descriptors. This latter instrument was designed according to a hypothesis of progression in one’s professional development, which should be experienced by teachers regarding the curricular and formative elements to be studied. We can see a similar degree of professional development across the results of these studies, even though the respondents were from groups with different educational backgrounds. In accounting for this homogeneity we find that the impact of initial training, at least as it is currently designed – minimal interrelation between theory and practice, scant connection between content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, little coherence between the training model which is applied and the teaching model which is advocated – is marginal, since, as numerous studies have shown, the ideas of trainee teachers are very resistant to change. The studies we have presented highlight the existence of two fundamental obstacles to trainee teachers’ professional development: on the one hand, obstacles of an epistemological nature, by which we mean the purpose and the academic and educational value of social studies; on the other hand, methodological obstacles, by which we refer to the knowledge and conceptions of the most adequate strategies for bringing about significant social studies learning in the students with whom they will shortly be working. Overcoming such obstacles requires a differentiated treatment of a quantitative and qualitative nature regarding teacher education. It is essential to carry out similar research projects to those presented here, so that we might detect obstacles to effective training and find through their analysis solutions which draw on the interrelation of theory and practice, of the knowledge of what to teach and the knowledge of how to teach it. It is through systematic research of this kind that fuller professional development is made possible and teacher education programmes better meet the needs of trainees, in response to a key question: How does social studies professional development make a difference? (Van Hover, 2008). In this respect, a report by the American Educational Research Association suggests that for successful teacher training it is fundamental to establish links between the university and the school, specifically directed towards teacher education programmes. In like fashion, methodological strategies for teacher training should centre on case studies and the use of the portfolio system, both of proven effectiveness in changing teachers’ conceptions, knowledge and attitudes (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005). Studies such as those in this collection seek to uncover these conceptions so that they can become the starting point for university training and a continuous reference throughout the process. In this way we can achieve a more rigorous and well-founded influence over the obstacles that are detected, so that trainee Social Studies teachers can reflect on their own belief systems, their rationality and their theoretical-practical limitations, and also gain experience in designing and implementing the curriculum in this area in such a way that their reflection and practical experience enables them to make advances in their professional development.
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Cuenca, J.M. (2004). Heritage in Social Science Education: Conceptions and Obstacles to integrate it in Obligatory Education. Michigan: Proquest – University of Michigan. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uhu/fullcit?p3126904 Cuenca, J.M. & Estepa, J. (2007). Las concepciones de los docentes y el desarrollo profesional: dos estudios desde la formación inicial en Ciencias Sociales. Investigación en la Escuela, 61. 85-98. Cuenca, J.M., Domínguez, C. & Estepa, J. (2000). El conocimiento didáctico del contenido sobre las nociones temporales en el profesorado de Educación Primaria. En J. Pagès, J. Estepa, & G. Travé (eds.) Modelos, contenidos y experiencias en la formación del profesorado de Ciencias Sociales. (pp. 401-412). Huelva, Spain: Universidad de HuelvaUniversidad Internacional de Andalucía-AUPDCS. Dinkelman, T. (2003). Self-study in teacher education: A means and end tool for promoting reflective teaching. Journals of Teacher Education, 54 (1), 6-18. Domínguez, C. & Cuenca, J.M. (2005). Patrimonio e identidad para un espacio educativo multicultural. Análisis de concepciones y propuesta didáctica. Investigación en la Escuela, 56, 27-42. Estepa, J. (1998). El conocimiento escolar en la formación inicial del profesorado de Ciencias Sociales. Investigación en la Escuela, 35, 43-52. Estepa, J. (2000). El conocimiento profesional de los profesores de Ciencias Sociales. En J. Pagès, J. Estepa, & G. Travé (eds.) Modelos, contenidos y experiencias en la formación del profesorado de Ciencias Sociales. (pp. 313-334). Huelva, Spain: Universidad de Huelva-Universidad Internacional de Andalucía-AUPDCS. Estepa, J. (2003). Investigando las sociedades actuales e históricas. Investigación en la Escuela, 51, 71-82. Estepa, J., Ávila, R.M. & Ferreras, M. (2008). Primary and Secondary Teachers’ Conceptions about Heritage and Heritage Education: a Comparative Analysis. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 2095-2107. Estepa, J., Ávila, R.M. & Ruiz, R. (2007). Concepciones sobre la enseñanza y difusión del patrimonio en las instituciones educativas y los centros de interpretación. Estudio descriptivo. Enseñanza de las Ciencias Sociales. Revista de Investigación, 6, 75-94. Estepa, J., de la Calle, M. & Sánchez, M. (eds.) (2002) Nuevos horizontes en la formación del profesorado de Ciencias Sociales. Madrid, Spain: ESLA-AUPDCS. Evans, R.W. (2004). The social studies wars: What should we teach the children? New York: Teachers College Press. García Díaz, J.E. & García Pérez, F.F. (2001). El conocimiento metadisciplinar y las didácticas específicas. En F.J. Perales et al. (eds.) Congreso nacional de Didácticas Específicas. Las didácticas de las áreas curriculares en el siglo XXI. Vol. I (pp. 409421). Granada, Spain: Grupo Editorial Universitario. García Díaz, J.E. et al. (1999). El análisis de la intervención en el aula: instrumentos y ejemplificaciones. Investigación en la Escuela, 39, 63-88. Gimeno, J. & Pérez, A. I. (1993). Comprender y transformar la enseñanza. Barcelona, Spain: Morata. Gómez, A.E. & Núñez, P. (eds.) (2006). Formar para investigar, investigar para formar en Didáctica de las Ciencias Sociales. Málaga, Spain: AUPDCS.
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In: Developments in Higher Education Editor: Mary Lee Albertson
ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5 © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 4
DIFFERENT GROUPS CHALLENGE PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN IN A HIGHER EDUCATION Raija Hämäläinen* Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä, Finland; P.O.Box 35; FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä
ABSTRACT This chapter explores pedagogical design in facilitating computer-supported collaborative learning in the light of two cases in higher education contexts. This study addresses two major aims: To elaborate different theoretical guidelines for the design of pedagogical core ideas of scripted tasks, which support the development of cognitive, social, developmental, or motivational aspects of learning; and to examine whether the groups followed the theoretical core ideas of the scripts and how groups’ activities varied between collaborative Group A and non-collaborative Group B despite apparently similar instructional support. Finally, we will discuss the main reasons behind different qualities of collaboration. On the basis of the challenges raised from the study, future prospects will be drawn.
INTRODUCTION This chapter explores pedagogical design in facilitating computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) (e.g., Koschmann, 1996) in the light of two cases in higher education contexts. At its best, collaboration appears to be a promising social approach to foster learning. Thus, recent studies have indicated that when learners are left on their own, it is often difficult for teams to engage in collaboration (e.g., Arvaja, 2007; Vonderwell, 2003). There are even more challenges when students are working in virtual environments separated in place and time. Technological tools are rarely designed with learning and teaching in mind (Laurillard, 2009). As a result, the increased use of technological tools challenges the design *
Tel +358 14 260 3301; Fax +358 14 260 3201; Street address: Keskussairaalantie 2
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of pedagogical instruction for technological environments (Arvaja, Hämäläinen, & RaksuPuttonen, 2009). Considering these issues, the web has often been overrated as a tool for collaboration, and most web facilities intended for correspondence or coordination across distances are marketed as “collaboration tools” (Lipponen, 2001; Roschelle & Pea, 1999). As a result, the use of collaboration scripts as instructional support has been presented as a way of triggering productive collaboration (Kobbe et al., 2007). This study explores collaboration scripts as a pedagogical method of facilitating group processes in virtual environments in real educational contexts. Thus, it addresses two major aims: To elaborate different theoretical guidelines for the design of pedagogical core ideas of scripted tasks, which support the development of cognitive, social, developmental, or motivational aspects of learning; and to examine whether the groups followed the theoretical core ideas of the scripts and how groups’ activities varied between collaborative Group A and non-collaborative Group B despite apparently similar instructional support. Finally, we will discuss the main reasons behind different qualities of collaboration.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The roots of CSCL (Koschman, 1994, 1996) exist in the integration of research areas focusing on collaborative learning and information and communication technologies (ICT) (Arvaja, Häkkinen, & Kankaanranta, 2008). According to Faulkner, Joiner, Littleton, Miell, and Thompson (2000), computers may have a unique role to play in facilitating shared collaborative activities. Although there is no unified theory of CSCL, a common feature is a focus on how collaboration supported by technology can facilitate the joint construction of shared understanding, meaning, knowledge, and expertise in the group or community (Arvaja et al., 2008; Dillenbourg, Järvelä, & Fisher, 2008; Littleton & Whitelock, 2005). In recent years, many researchers have reported on advances in CSCL (e.g., Fischer, Bruhn, Gräsel, & Mandl, 2002; Koschmann, 1996; Schellens & Valcke, 2006). The potential of collaborative learning is that it combines individual and social processes (Dillenbourg, Järvelä, & Fisher, 2008; Dillenbourg & Self, 1995), through which groups can construct new understanding and knowledge (Stahl, 2005). According to Arvaja, Salovaara, Häkkinen, and Järvelä (2007), collaboration is defined as a shared knowledge construction in which it is not enough that participants cumulatively (Mercer, 1996) share knowledge together; rather, the knowledge construction has to be built on others’ ideas and thoughts. Therefore, collaborative learning depends on interactions between group members (Arvaja et al., 2008). In successful collaboration, different aspects of learning, such as cognitive, social, developmental, and motivational elements (Slavin, 1997), are often intertwined. Thus, in an educational environment, collaboration alone does not automatically produce high-level collaboration where participants are engaged in cognitively high-level learning (Dillenbourg, 2002). The problem is that simply offering online learning environments will not necessarily cause students to interact in a way that promotes cognitively high-level collaborative learning (e.g., Lipponen, 2001). Thus, researchers have pointed out various kinds of problems – cognitive (e.g., Guzzetti & Glass, 1993), social (e.g. Arvaja, Rasku-Puttonen, Häkkinen, & Eteläpelto, 2003) and motivational (e.g., Volet & Järvelä, 2001) – in virtual collaborative learning environments, and especially in real educational settings. Collaborative learning
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seems to be affected by the quality of interaction and whether a group is able to build new and innovative knowledge through such interactions (Barron, 2003). As stated earlier, when learners are left to their own devices, they rarely engage in productive collaborative interactions (Barron, 2003; Kobbe et al., 2007). Therefore, different pedagogical models and systems have been developed to support collaboration (e.g., De Corte, 1996; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1991, 1994). One way to reduce uncertainty and aimless interactions in collaborative learning situations is to structure groups’ collaboration processes (Lehtinen, 2003). Recently, researchers have adopted collaboration scripts as an instructional approach to structure and support collaborative learning (Dillenbourg & Jerman, 2006; Kollar, Fischer, & Hesse, 2006; Schellens, Van Keer, De Wever, & Valcke, 2007; Stegmann, Weinberger, & Fischer, 2007; Weinberger, Fischer, & Mandl, 2003). The target of the scripts is to evoke particular shared interactions (e.g., solving cognitive conflict) that have been found to be related to productive collaborative learning (e.g., Cohen, 1994; King, 2006; Webb & Palincsar, 1996). In this way, scripts are expected to lead group members to higherlevel interaction, and therefore, to better shared knowledge construction and learning (Kobbe et al., 2007). Next, we will describe the theoretical vantage points of the scripts used in this study, Scripts 1 and 2; in addition, we will delineate different theoretical guidelines for the design of pedagogical scripts.
DIFFERENT THEORETICAL GUIDELINES FOR THE DESIGN OF (PEDAGOGICAL) COLLABORATION SCRIPTS As recent studies have indicated, in order to induce collaboration between students, it is crucial to construct tasks that compel group members to work together. This is because most students first attempt to carry out the tasks on their own, joining forces with other learners only when they realize that this is necessary to solve the problem (Hämäläinen, 2008; Hämäläinen, Oksanen, & Häkkinen, 2008). From a pedagogical perspective, the leading issue in scripting is the core design principle, through which the script is expected to trigger collaboration (knowledge construction built on the ideas of others). For different learning goals there are different kinds of design principles through which scripts are expected to trigger specific interactions (Dillenbourg & Jerman, 2006). In CSCL environments, scripts may support, for example, the development of cognitive, social, developmental, or motivational aspects of learning (Hämäläinen, 2008). In this study, we assumed that collaboration would be supported by scripted tasks with different core pedagogical ideas; authentic learning problem, (e.g., Kester, Kirschner, & Corbalan, 2007), solving cognitive conflict (e.g., Doise, 1985), distributed expertise (e.g., Dillenbourg & Jermann, 2006; Price et al., 2003), complementary knowledge construction (e.g., De Laat & Lally, 2004), and reciprocal teaching (Palincsar & Brown, 1984) (see table 1).
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Raija Hämäläinen Table 1. Theoretical vantage points of the Scripts 1 and 2
Script 1
Script 2
Theoretical vantage points • authentic learning problem • complementary knowledge construction • reciprocal teaching • distributed expertise • complementary knowledge construction • conflict
The roots of conflict-oriented scripts can be found in Piaget’s cognitive conflict theory (an individual’s interaction with the concrete world) (Piaget, 1985), which was further developed to address socio-cognitive conflict by emphasizing the importance of social interaction (Doise & Mugny, 1986). The aim of conflict-oriented scripts is to trigger argumentation (e.g., Kollar, Fisher, & Slotta, 2008; van Bruggen, Kirschner, & Jochems, 2002; Weinberger, Ertl, Fischer, & Mandl, 2005) among group members by forming pairs of students with conflicting opinions (e.g., Tudge, 1992; Moscovici & Doise, 1994). This can be done, for example, by providing students with conflicting evidence or by asking them to play conflicting roles. In this way, scripts aim to promote solving a cognitive conflict (e.g. Huang, Liu, & Shiu, 2008; Limón & Carretero, 1997; Moscovici & Doise, 1994). The rationale behind such a script is that conflicts may force learners to turn to new ways of constructing knowledge, opening up the possibility that new knowledge will be created (e.g., Doise, 1985; Posner, Strike, Hewson, & Gertzog, 1982). In terms of learning effects, the crucial question is: How are students able to solve their cognitive conflict, rather than just the conflict itself (Ayoko, Hartel, & Callan, 2002; Dillenbourg & Jerman, 2006; Limón, 2001)? Scripts may aim to assign and interchange roles that foster reciprocal activities (see Palincsar & Brown, 1984), such as questioning, mutual explaining or tutoring (e.g., Duran & Monereo, 2005; Greenwood, Arrega-Mayer, Utley, Gavin, & Terry, 2001; King, 1999; Webb, 1989). Within authentic learning problems (e.g., Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Lainema & Nurmi, 2006; Strijbos, Kirschner, & Martens, 2004; Zualkernan, 2006), the main idea is to create a situation in which students have to use their abilities to handle uncertainty (e.g., Berger & Calabrese, 1975), commit to solving a task, and build shared understanding (Dillenbourg, 1999; Resnick, 1991; Schwartz, 1995) by mutually explaining their perspectives on a task’s solution. In collaboration situations, learners’ resources, cognitive representations, and knowledge- transfer are interconnected with how well the group is able to build shared understanding (e.g., Fisher & Mandl, 2005). In typical CSCL situations, learners must first build shared understanding of the goal/task, and then (for example, through reciprocal activities) it is possible to create a shared task-solution. Scripts may aim to form pairs with complementary (e.g., Jigsaw-method; Aronsonet al., 1978) information (e.g. Perkins, 1993); these pairs will then trigger dependency and complementary knowledge construction between the participants (e.g., De Laat & Lally, 2004; Kneser & Ploetzner, 2001). Group members are dependent on each other, learners’ activities are connected to the whole process, and each piece of work is meaningful for the group in regard to finishing the task at hand (Dourish & Bellotti, 1992; Haake & Wilson, 1992). When, for example, resources or expertise (Hermann, Rummel, & Spada, 2001) are distributed between the team members, teamwork is necessary. Since none of the group members alone has enough
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information/knowledge to solve the task alone, he or she needs to reason, explain and justify his or her knowledge or contribution to others (e.g. Herbsleb, Mockus, Finholta, & Grinter, 2000; Perkins, 1993; Price et al., 2003; Strijbos & Martens, 2001). When expertise is distributed, the coordination of different perspectives is connected to the success of collaboration (Baker, 2002; Erkens, Jaspers, Prangsma, & Kanselaar, 2005; Malone & Crowston, 1994). Thus, coordination involves personal responsibility, dependency between participants, and control of an aggregate of individuals (Brown & Campione, 1994; Malone & Crowston, 1994).
METHOD There are various solutions in terms of the type of technology used to support scripting. Firstly, scripts can be differenced by detailed directions for interactions (micro-scripts) and general guidelines for shared activities (macro-scripts) (Kobbe et al., 2007). Secondly, scripts can be differentiated according to whether collaboration is supported by specific instructional means or by technology (Hämäläinen, 2008). In line with this notion, Lipponen (2001) has made a distinction between the collaborative use of technology (software alone does not scaffold collaboration) and collaborative technology (software designed to support collaborative knowledge construction) (Häkkinen, Arvaja, Hämäläinen, & Pöysä, 2009). The current study focused on the collaborative use of existing technology (by sequences of instructions) in macro-scripted conditions. Two related empirical studies were carried out to examine whether the groups followed the core theoretical ideas of the scripts, to determine how different core design principles affected groups’ collaboration, and finally, to illustrate how groups’ activities varied between collaborative Group A and non-collaborative Group B despite apparently similar instructional support. This study implemented a design-based research approach (Brown, 1992; Collins, Joseph, & Bielaczyc, 2004; The DBR Collective, 2003). The empirical experiments were conducted to enhance an understanding of group collaboration in macro-scripted conditions. Macro-scripts aim to be flexible resources that result in a richness of collaboration between participants (Tchounikine, 2008).
Participants The participants of the study made up two small groups (collaborative and noncollaborative; based on how the students participated and in what kind of activities. The collaborative groups used shared knowledge construction in which new knowledge was built on each others’ ideas and thoughts) (Arvaja et al., 2007). For a more detailed definition of collaborative and non-collaborative groups, see Hämäläinen & Arvaja, 2009; Hämäläinen & Häkkinen, 2009) of first-year teacher education students (N=9) (names are pseudonyms) taking courses in the pedagogy of pre-primary and primary education. These groups are referred to as Group A (collaborative) and Group B (non-collaborative). The students participated in two different scripted tasks: Script 1 and Script 2 (see table 1). Group A consisted of five students; four female and one male. Group B consisted of four students:
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three female and one male. The leading idea in the study involved structuring the student groups’ collaborative activities by means of a script while they worked in an asynchronous virtual learning environment. The students worked in small groups assigned by the teacher and researchers. The script’s pedagogical idea was designed as a joint effort by two research groups (see Häkkinen et al., 2005), while the content of the script was designed by the teacher (an expert with a doctoral degree in education and many years’ teaching experience). Each of the scripted exercises took about four weeks, during which the students were supposed to proceed through five different steps. Moving from one step to the next presupposed that the previous task had been completed. The students were not penalized in any way is they failed to complete all of the steps in the script.
Data Collection The set of data consists of records of computer-based activity; log data on student activities; and asynchronous web-based discussions that took place during the scripted tasks 1 and 2. This study concentrated on the asynchronous web-based discussion that took place in Groups A and B during the scripted tasks 1 and 2. Thus, the data consists of students’ webbased messages. Moreover, all the material that was used in the course (lecture notes, webbased documents, and links) was used in interpreting the students’ collaboration activity.
Data Analysis The following qualitative analysis was used in analyzing Groups A and B’s collaboration in the scripted conditions: (1) verifying data, (2) examining the main discourse functions of communication and examining whether Groups A and B reached the pedagogical core idea of the script in scripted tasks 1 and 2, and (3) comparing the main differences between Groups A and B. At the first stage of analysis, data were verified and categorized. At this stage, all the material was read through several times, redundancies were omitted (such as repeated messages) and different types of data occurring in the same context were used for crossanalysis. The students’ web-based discussion was analyzed in terms of discourse functions. An utterance with the substance of a theory driven discourse function was chosen as the unit of analysis (Chi, 1997); for example, “Hanna: Phonological awareness. Timo has an apparent interest in phonemes. For instance, in comics he is asking if J is the letter of uncle Jani” is one utterance. The analysis was made by classifying each utterance into discourse function categories (see table 2 for descriptions). The categories were based on the theorydriven aims for scripted task 1: 1) authenticity, 2) complementary knowledge construction, 3) reciprocal teaching (see table 2); and task 2: 1) distributing expertise, 2) complementary knowledge construction, 3) solving cognitive conflict (see table 3). Next, the analysis focused on whether the groups reached the pedagogical core idea of the script. This was done by examining whether Script 1 generated complementary knowledge construction and reciprocal teaching, and Script 2 generated a resolution of cognitive conflict, complementary knowledge construction, and distributed expertise, as expected from the core pedagogical ideas of Scripts 1 and 2. Finally, an investigation was conducted to determine differences in types of
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discourse functions between Group A and B which may have existed despite the use of the same scripted tasks for both groups. Table 2. Discourse Functions of Script 1 Discourse Functions Authenticity Complementary knowledge construction Reciprocal teaching
Description Referring the authentic case material Responding to or completing knowledge construction started by other group members (knowledge construction built on others’ ideas and thoughts) Teaching one’s own area of expertise to the other group members (including questioning, mutual explaining, or tutoring)
Table 3. Discourse Functions of Script 2 Discourse Functions Distributing expertise Complementary knowledge construction Solving cognitive conflict
Description Reasoning, explaining, or justifying one’s own knowledge Responding to or completing knowledge construction started by other group members (knowledge construction built on others’ ideas and thoughts) Negotiating a shared solution to the problem
RESULTS According to our earlier studies (see Hämäläinen & Arvaja, 2009; Hämäläinen & Häkkinen, 2009) the benefit of Scripts 1 and 2 are that they can guarantee that students find resources for their collaboration activity and are able to work together. However, the major challenges of scripted tasks seem to be related to group variations and to reaching a high-level collaboration. Recent research findings have indicated that a high level of activity (e.g., the number of utterances) does not necessarily indicate high-level collaboration (e.g., Hämäläinen, Oksanen, & Häkkinen, 2008). Therefore, this study examined how the groups followed theoretical core ideas of the Scripts A and B, and sought the differences in group activities between collaborative Group A and non-collaborative Group B. The findings indicate that despite the apparently similar instructional support, the level and quality of collaborative activities in Groups A and B varied in terms of the number, length, and content of their activities, satisfaction with the group work, the degree of collaboration, roles assumed, and attitudes displayed in the group. There was a difference in the number of theory-driven substance discourse functions, which was higher in the collaborative Group A than the non-collaborative Group B for both of the scripted tasks (see table 4).
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Raija Hämäläinen Table 4. Theory-driven substance discourse functions with Groups A and B in scripted tasks Script 1 Authentic learning problem Complementary knowledge construction Reciprocal teaching Total Script 2 Distributed expertise Complementary knowledge construction Conflict Total
Collaborative Group A 10 13 19 42 Group A 63 52 115
Non-collaborative Group B 4 11 12 27 Group B 26 26
In scripted task 1, the biggest differences occurred in the level of collaboration shown and in the roles assumed by the participants. Script 1 based the learning task on the authentic work situation of the pedagogy of pre-primary and primary education. The script aimed to trigger complementary knowledge construction and reportorial teaching activities. As can be seen in table 4, Script 1 triggered these theory based discourse functions in both groups. However, as described in the following subsection (see tables 5 and 6), both of the groups had members who did not actively take part in the shared activities. Thus, as far as the roles in Script 1 were concerned, the main problem for the non-collaborative work (Group B) was attributable to “free riding,” which was recognized both by some active members of the group and by some “free riders” themselves (see also Hämäläinen & Arvaja, 2009). Thus, it was relatively easy for individual participants to coast and be invisible in the fairly open tasks in Script 1. Therefore, learners in non-collaborative Group B would particularly need more support or supervision to reach higher levels of participation or cognitive levels of learning. While the participants in the collaborative group felt that Script 1 did not structure their work well enough, they created their own self-scripting activities (see Dillenbourg & Tchounikine, 2007). Script 2 aimed at the distribution of expertise, complementary knowledge construction, and the resolution of cognitive conflict. However, as can be seen in table 4 above, conflict situations with critical argumentation and counter-argumentation did not occur. Script 2 also lacked complementary knowledge construction in non-collaborative Group B. The script required individual efforts from each student and, through this, ensured that all the participants would engage in some activity during the task. In practice, this meant that all the students either contributed to some of the work or failed to go through the script and dropped out of the course. However, with non-collaborative Group B, the number of theory-driven substance discourse functions (26 utterances) decreased, while the number of theory-driven substance discourse functions increased more than twofold in collaborative Group A (115 utterances) (see table 4). Therefore, it seems that collaboration depends on the learners’ willingness and effort towards shared collaboration. The findings for Script 2 indicate that if students are forced to participate (without motivation and engagement), scripting might increase the quasi-activity of non-engaged students and lead to simplistic discussion. With collaborative Group A, this seemed to increase the theory-driven collaborative activities (see table 4). To conclude, collaborative Group A seemed to benefit from the macro-level
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scripting in both scripted tasks A and B, while the non-collaborative group would have needed different types of support. In Script 1, Group B suffered from attributable free riding. However, the amount of theory-driven substance discourse functions decreased further in the more detailed Script 2 with non-collaborative Group B. Therefore, more detailed scripting does not seem to be a solution in engaging members in the collaborative group work. This indicates the problematic nature of scripting collaboration: creative high level collaboration processes depend on genuine shared group processes, which may not develop in forcing inactive students to participate.
Uncompelled Collaboration The next two tables (table 5 and 6) present the frequency of theory-based discourse functions in the web-based discussion of students in Groups A and B in the scripted tasks 1 and 2. In scripted task 1 with non-collaborative Group B, the number of theory-driven substance discourse functions (27 utterances) was lower than in collaborative Group A (42 utterances) (see table 3). However, as was stated earlier, since the amount of activity does not indicate the quality of collaboration, Groups A and B’s collaboration processes cannot be estimated based only on the activity levels of the students. Therefore, the focus is on the individual differences and similarities in discussion, as well as the roles of individual students in the group (see also Hämäläinen & Arvaja, 2009; Hämäläinen & Häkkinen, 2009). Table 5. Frequency of theory-based discourse functions in Script 1 Script 1 Discourse functions Authenticity Complementary knowledge construction Reciprocal teaching
Group A Hanna
Jukka
Sanna
Anna
Jaana
Group B Pekka Heli
Miina
Nea
5 4
1 1
3 3
1 4
0 1
2 2
0 2
2 4
0 3
11
1
2
5
0
7
2
3
0
For Script 1, Group A created 41 theory-based discourse function utterances. This group had one very active member (Hanna), who had the role of the “captain” in the group. She invested a lot of effort in the collaborative task. Hanna took the chief responsibility for dealing with the task. As can be seen from table 5, in Script 1 Hanna was also the participant most actively following the core pedagogical ideas of the scripts. Her messages included a lot of theory-based comments (see table 5). She mainly taught others reciprocal knowledge. However, the advanced element of her activity was that she also grounded her (and through that, the whole groups’) work on the authentic material as intended in Script 1. Furthermore, she was also capable of complementary knowledge construction with Jukka, Sanna, Anna, and Jaana. The activity level of Jukka, Sanna, and Anna varied during the task. As can be seen in the table above, Anna and Sanna also took an active role in shared knowledge construction and reciprocal teaching. Within this group, Jukka was rather inactive throughout the task; the advantage of his participation was that almost all his input included theory-based
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discourse functions and he provided important complementary information for the task’s solution. In contrast, Jaana showed the opposite type of participation; even thought she was quite active in discussion, only one of her utterances included a theory-based discourse function (see table 5 above). Thus, her role was mainly in improving the atmosphere and organizing group work rather the content-based shared knowledge construction. In Group B, Heli and Miina took most of the responsibility for organizing the task, while the role of Pekka was to “teach or set the pace,” providing the grounding for the group work. Pekka had the role of a “ghost” (see Strijbos & De Laat, 2007), with a high individual learning goal, but a passive attitude toward the shared construction of the task. As can be seen in table 5, Pekka used a lot of reciprocal teaching to explain his ideas. However, the problem was that he had false information (which none of the other group members called into question); in addition, he did not participate in the actual construction of the content. Therefore, the quality of collaboration was low, as Group B neither reasoned nor justified their thoughts; furthermore, they did not ask critical questions or elaborate on their ideas.
Challenge of Reaching Cognitive Conflict and Complementary Knowledge Construction Script 2 failed to trigger active conflict situations. The conflict situations that were expected in the script did not occur either with the collaborative or the non-collaborative group (see table 6). The lack of conflict was quite surprising, since the teacher had many years’ experience using this task in face-to-face situations, where it had triggered conflicts with strong counter-argumentation. Therefore, the topic was expected to create cognitive conflicts in a web environment as well. According these findings, it seems that both the collaborative and non-collaborative group preferred avoiding conflicts and tended to solve tasks through mutual understanding in the virtual environment. Table 6. Frequency of theory-based discourse functions in Script 2 Script 2 Discourse functions Distributing expertise Complementary knowledge construction Solving cognitive conflict
Group A Hanna
Jukka
Sanna
Anna
Jaana
Group B Pekka
Heli
Miina
Nea
19
6
14
12
12
8
7
3
8
28
2
16
0
6
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
As can be seen from table 6, which presents the use of the theory-based discourse functions in Script 2, there were remarkable difference in the frequency of these functions between the collaborative (Group A) and non-collaborative Group (B). With collaborative Group A, individual work was grounded on a shared theory-based discourse (115 utterances), while with the non-collaborative group, monologue-type attitude in individual work destroyed the basis for the group work. As can be seen in table 5, in non-collaborative Group B, students were simply distributing their own expertise (achieved in the individual working
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phase), as all 26 theory-based utterances distributes the student’s own expertise. Thus, instead of using their knowledge as a basic for collaboration, Pekka, Heli, Miina, and Nea performed minimal activity to pass the task. To conclude, Script 2 activated individual participation in the non-collaborative group instead of activating shared collaboration processes; therefore, the group members engaged in monologue-type information sharing. With collaborative Group A, the individual grounding of the work for shared knowledge construction had the opposite role. Even though the main theory-based discourse function was also distributing expertise, collaborative Group A used it to ground their shared complementary knowledge constructed. Hanna remained in the role of captain. She also followed most actively the core pedagogical ideas of the scripts. She had vital role in posing questions, distributing expertise, and elaborating and constructing shared knowledge; she mainly engaged in these tasks with Sanna (see table 6). Anna and Jukka had a passive role in shared knowledge construction; however, neither of them lacked other members’ shared collaboration. Jukka remained a rather inactive participant with new viewpoints for collaboration. Moreover, Anna shut off from complementary knowledge construction. By the end of the task, she had noticed her behavior and wondered about it. The role of Jaana changed compared to that in Script 1 as, within this Script 2, she took a much more active role in content-based shared knowledge construction. To sum up, for actively collaborating Group A, the requirement of an individual work load may have enhanced collaboration, as all the members then became capable of putting an individual effort into the task’s solution. However, even within the collaborative group there was one member (Anna) whose participation declined in the script with an individual workload.
CONCLUSION This study was inspired by the finding that when learners are left on their own in CSCL, it is often difficult for teams to engage in productive collaboration in authentic educational settings (Häkkinen, Arvaja, & Mäkitalo, 2004). One solution may be to design collaboration scripts in CSCL environments (Dillenbourg, 1999). This study explored macro-scripts as external support for CSCL, and elaborated on theoretical guidelines for the design of (pedagogical) collaboration scripts. As stated earlier, from a pedagogical perspective, the leading issue in scripting is the core design principle, through which the script is expected to trigger collaboration (knowledge construction built on others’ ideas). Therefore, the aim of this study was to elaborate different theoretical guidelines for the design of (pedagogical) collaboration scripts that support the development of cognitive, social, developmental, or motivational aspects of learning. This study focused on a collaborative and non-collaborative group performing the same scripted tasks. By opening up the process of each student’s based discourse, this study aims to offer tools used to detect possible reasons for differences. Optimally, this knowledge could be used to identify critical points for restructuring scripting in response to the specific needs of particular groups. Findings indicate that defining and introducing a core pedagogical idea is challenging. Lack of cognitive conflicts with both collaborative and non-collaborative groups highlight the particular nature of virtual collaboration. As tasks have been used to raise conflicts in face-toface situations for many years, the findings indicate that tasks from classroom situations are
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not easily transferable to virtual settings. In macro-scripted conditions, Groups A and B acted differently, despite using the same core pedagogical idea and an ideal script. This is in line with the notion of Dillenbourg and Jermann (2006), who state that differences emerge between an ideal script, a mental script (a social and mental representation created by the group performing the script), and an actual script (the emerging patterns, i.e., what really happens in a scripted learning situation). The findings demonstrate that, among the same students, the roles and main characteristics of the group work did not remain the same with different scripted tasks. However, in collaborative Group A, the same individual fulfilled the role of captain for both scripts, and her effort to construct shared knowledge successfully was significant. This is in line with the assumption of Rourke and Kanuka (2007), who state that well structured learning activities with clearly defined roles and the assessment of students’ participation may ease the difficulties of uncritical discourse in collaboration. Based on this study, one can surmise that designing macro-scripts is more complicated than integrating core pedagogical ideas (based on former research findings) into lesson plans. The findings show that, for different groups, there is a need for different kinds of core pedagogical ideas and the external supports through which scripts are expected to trigger collaboration. Aside from taking into account the learning goals for the group, this study suggests that learners’ characteristics, group compositions, and roles (Hare, 1994) should also be considered in scripting. To sum up, in the future, reasons for the advantages and disadvantages of CSCL within different groups should be explored. In this study, the same students proceeded through the same two scripts. The findings indicate that non-collaborative Group B would have needed more controlled participation and scaffolding during the work in Script 1. The advantage of the more detailed control in Script 2 was that it prevented coasting, but the negative effect was that, since some students were forced to participate, with non-collaborative Group B the amount of theory-driven substance discourse functions did not increase and students did not construct shared knowledge. The collaborative group requirement of personal work in Script 2 enhanced the whole Group’s A collaboration, as students used their pieces of information as a resource for shared knowledge construction in collaboration. In contrast, in non-collaborative Group B the requirement of individual work negatively affected collaboration, as students used personal work as an excuse for skipping or copying and pasting text in the shared part of the work (these students felt that they had already done their part). Since collaboration in macro-scripted conditions seems to depend on the learners' willingness to work together, the script should not be seen as a way to force students to participate in collaboration. If students are forced to participate (without motivation and engagement), there is the risk that, while scripting may increase the quasi-activity of some students who are not really committed to the actual group work, it may lead to simplistic discussion or even prevent more active members' collaboration (see also Hämäläinen & Häkkinen, 2009). In the future, we need ways of recognizing the needs of different learning groups. At best, new technologies may be developed to take account of the unique needs of different learners. At this point, teachers may be able to aim different scripts to certain types of groups. Ideally, this kind of knowledge could also be used to help students to recognize disturbing activity and offer them tools to turn their activity towards a type of participation that facilitates collaboration. This poses interesting challenges to script design. One such challenge is deciphering the core design principles that evoke students’ motivational highlevel engagement (e.g., Järvelä, Veermans, & Leinonen, 2008; Volet, Summers, & Thurman,
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2008) in collaborative knowledge construction for different groups. A further challenge is deciding how to assign individuals to groups in such a way that they will recognize and balance their collaborative behaviors to create optimal group processes. Furthermore, teachers’ ways of identifying the needs of different groups should be enhanced (e.g., with new technologies). To conclude, in terms of this aspect of scripted collaboration, future challenges are: finding ways to recognize different needs for shared collaboration processes, and finding ways to engage the whole group in the collaboration process (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004; Volet, Summers, & Thurman, 2008), while still leaving space for participants' own ideas and creativity (Amabile, 1983; Gall & Breeze, 2008; Vass, 2002).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research was supported by the Academy of Finland (project no. 121097).
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In: Developments in Higher Education Editor: Mary Lee Albertson
ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5 © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 5
INVESTIGATING THE DEMAND FOR HIGHER EDUCATION: THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, INSTITUTIONAL AND PERSONAL VARIABLES Maria Eliophotou Menon* University of Cyprus; Department of Education; Nicosia; Cyprus
ABSTRACT The chapter investigates the main influences on the private demand for higher education, through an investigation of the decision of young people to select higher education over employment at the end of their secondary education. It is based on a survey of 611 secondary school seniors which took place in Cyprus, a small Mediterranean country and a member of the European Union. The methodology employs both quantitative and qualitative methods for the analysis of the survey data. Four categories of variables reported to be important as demand-influencing factors in the literature were examined, namely, social, economic, institutional and individual/personal factors. According to the findings, the most important influences on the student’s decision to pursue higher education were the following: the student’s ability, the student’s gender, personal/psychological and economic considerations. Higher ability students and female students were found to be more likely to pursue higher education. This was also the case for students who placed emphasis on personal and economic considerations in the pursuit of higher studies. This chapter compares the findings to those of an earlier study of the topic in the same country, and discusses the implications of the findings for higher education policy.
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Address Correspondence To: Maria Eliophotou Menon; Associate Professor; University of Cyprus; Department of Education; P.O. Box 20537; 1678 Nicosia; Cyprus; Tel: 357-22892944; Fax: 357-22753702 ; e-mail:
[email protected]
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INTRODUCTION The phenomenal expansion of higher education systems in the second half of the twentieth century has resulted in an interest in the factors influencing the decision of young people to pursue tertiary education. In an attempt to arrive at a better understanding of student motivational patterns and behaviour, several studies have examined the main influences on the choice between higher education and direct employment. Research on demandinfluencing factors has been used to inform policy initiatives concerned with access and equity in higher education. It is generally accepted that information on the factors influencing the demand for higher education can facilitate the design of measures aimed at increasing the participation rate of under-represented groups. Moreover, the investigation of student motivational patterns can be of value to universities, which can take into account the needs and wants of their student public in the development of their educational programmes. The demand for higher education is commonly considered to be subject to a great number of influences, the most important of which fall under the following categories of variables: social/familial, psychological/individual, economic/occupational, and structural/institutional (OECD, 1978). Many of the studies which have attempted to investigate the influences on the demand for higher education have focused on one of these categories. For instance, social/familial variables have been examined by sociologists in the framework of cultural reproduction theories, while economic/occupational variables have been the subject of several investigations in the field of economics, especially in relation to human capital theory. As a result, most studies have provided us with evidence on the effect of one class of variables on demand, without reference to the influence of other categories of demand-influencing factors. However, a more comprehensive account of the reasons that drive young people to pursue higher education requires that all main influences on demand be taken into account. This approach allows for an assessment of the relative importance of each demand-influencing category on the decision making of individual students. The aim of the present chapter is two-fold: First, it attempts to identify the relative influence of the four categories of factors previously mentioned on the intention of secondary school graduates to pursue higher education. Specifically, it investigates the influence of several variables associated with the four categories of demand-influencing factors. This is done through data collected from a survey of the intentions of secondary school seniors, which took place in Cyprus1. Second, it endeavours to examine changes in the effects of these factors through time by comparing the present results to those of an earlier study, which was also conducted in Cyprus (Menon, 1998). Longitudinal studies of the effect of different variables on demand are very rare, making it difficult for planners and policy makers to follow changes in demand patterns. The remainder of the chapter is organised as follows: First, it presents the context of the study through a review of the literature on the factors influencing the demand for higher education. Second, it discusses the methodology used to gather data on the topic and the analytical methods employed. It then presents and discusses the research findings, and finally arrives at the main conclusions and their implications for educational planning and policy making. 1
The present study was conducted in the Republic of Cyprus, the educational system of which has been heavily influenced by the Greek model.
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THE CONTEXT The classification of demand-influencing factors into four main categories (social/familial, economic/occupational, psychological/individual, structural/institutional) provides a basis for the examination of research findings associated with different fields of study such as economics, psychology and sociology. Even though the separation of factors into groups should not be seen as an attempt to formulate competing explanatory models of the demand for higher education, different emphases and methodological approaches are associated with research studies in each group. In what follows, we provide a brief account of the variables commonly investigated under each category of demand-influencing factors2 and present the relevant research findings for each variable.
Social/Familial Factors It has long been recognised that the social origins of young people play an important role in their educational and occupational choices. The family is often considered to have a major impact on the decision of secondary school students to pursue higher education. Families of higher social status have been found to encourage their children to perform better at school and continue into post-compulsory education. A social class disadvantage in relation to higher education entry was reported by both early and recent studies (see, for example, Connor, 2001; Floud, Halsey & Martin, 1956; Li, 2007; Robbins Committee on Higher Education, 1963; Rosado & David, 2006; Thomas, 2001). In a study of educational attainment in thirteen countries, the lower participation rate of working class children was found to remain constant in the twentieth century, with the exception of two countries, namely, Sweden and the Netherlands (Shavit & Blossfeld, 1993). In the United Kingdom, Thomas (2001) reported that fewer of the lower class students who had achieved higher education entry qualifications, proceeded to apply to university. This is often attributed to a deficit in the aspirations and motivations of the lower classes (Archer & Yamashita, 2003). Parental education, in particular, has been shown to have a significant effect on the private demand for postcompulsory education, with educated parents being more able to guide their children towards higher education (Albert, 2000; Hayden & Carpenter, 1990; Li, 2007; Petrongolo & San Segundo, 2002). Other social background variables linked to the demand for higher education in the literature include family size and structure (Birdsall, 1980; Buchmann & Hannum, 2001). In addition to familial variables, social variables such as peers have also been investigated as demand-influencing factors. In early studies, the effect of peers on educational aspirations was generally reported to be limited (Kandel & Lesser, 1972; Williams, 1972). In some recent studies, however, peers and friends were found to have a positive influence on educational intentions (Barber & Olsen, 1997; Connor, 2001; Forste, Heaton & Haas, 2004).
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It should be noted that some demand variables may not be easily classified into one group in that their influence can be also linked to at least one other group. For instance, several studies suggest that students from working class backgrounds perceive greater financial risk in the decision to enter higher education (Baxter, Tate &
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Economic/Occupational Factors In economics, several attempts have been made to estimate the effect of economic considerations on the decision of young people to enter higher education. Two main approaches to the study of the topic can be found in the literature: First, a large number of econometric studies have employed regression models to examine the effect of various economic/occupational variables on the higher education participation rate of young people (see, for example, Bennett, Glennerster & Nevison, 1992; Canton & de Jong, 2005; Handa & Skolnik, 1975; Mueller & Rockerbie, 2005). This approach makes use of available statistical data, without reference to individual data provided by prospective students. According to the findings of most econometric studies, economic variables (such as the direct costs of higher education, relative wage differences, and the rate of youth unemployment) have a significant impact on the demand for higher education. Second, a group of studies have attempted to study the economic influences on the demand for higher education through data collected from individual students (see, for example, Menon, 1997, 2008a, 2008b; Williams & Gordon, 1981; Wong, 1989). In many studies, the collection of data from individual students is used to estimate an expected or perceived rate of return to higher education, based on the student’s perceptions of relevant costs and monetary benefits. The perceived rate of return to higher education has been reported to exert a significant effect on the decision of young people to enter post-compulsory education. In the case of Cyprus, this was found to be the case at two points in time (see, Menon, 1997; Menon, 2008a). It thus appears that the findings of available studies on the impact of economic factors on the demand for higher education point to a significant effect, irrespective of the methodology employed in the investigation of the topic.
Psychological/Individual Factors In the context of psychology, the individual’s choices with regard to higher education are strongly affected by his/her personal characteristics. The role of individual differences in abilities and motivational characteristics is usually emphasised under the psychological approach. Student ability, in particular, has been reported to be a major determinant of the student’s educational aspirations (Jimenez & Salas-Velasco, 2000; Maani & Kalb, 2007; Kodde & Ritzen, 1988). In almost all relevant studies, an ability or grade effect on the intention to enter higher education is observed, with students of higher ability being more likely to pursue entry into universities. Other individual variables linked to the demand for higher education include the student’s motives and aspirations, his/her personality and his/her perceptions and attitudes towards aspects of higher education and/or employment. Moreover, individual/demographic characteristics such as gender, race and ethnic origin have also been reported to play an important role in the decision to enter higher education. The increase in the participation of women has been phenomenal in many countries, with women being more likely to attend universities than men in some cases (Albert, 2000; Forste, Heaton & Haas, 2004). However, the participation of women, like that of the working classes, Hatt, 2007; Archer, Hutchings & Ross, 2003). This is often attributed to a tendency on their part to be more debt averse than their middle class counterparts.
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is often biased towards, or restricted to, certain subjects and university types (Coffield & Vignoles, 1997). As regards race and ethnic origin, significant differences in demand patterns have been reported between whites and other groups (Borus & Carpenter, 1984; Freeman, 1977; Ordovensky, 1995).
Structural/Institutional Factors The characteristics of educational institutions attended by students in the course of their secondary education have also been linked to entry into higher education. Numerous institutional variables have been examined in the literature, including the status of the secondary school (Meyer, 1970), streaming mechanisms and enrollment in a vocational track at secondary school (Yuchtman & Samuel, 1975; Ordovensky, 1995), and the secondary school curriculum (Borus & Carpenter, 1984). As regards teachers and career advisors, in some studies their influence was reported to be small, while in others they have been reported to be of some influence (Connor, 2001; Forste, Heaton & Haas, 2004). Other institutional variables examined in the literature include participation in extracurricular activities and institutional proximity to the student’s home. It is important to note that the perceived or anticipated structural conditions of higher education programmes can also be linked to the demand for higher education. Overall, it appears that, as indicated by various studies, a large number of variables can be considered relevant as influences on the future educational paths of secondary school graduates. Even though it is impossible to consider all variables grouped under the four main categories discussed above, it is important to take into account all four categories in the attempt to investigate the main influences on demand.
THE BACKGROUND The study reported in the present chapter took place in Cyprus, a small Eastern Mediterranean country, which joined the European Union in 2004. Cyprus is characterised by exceptionally high demand for tertiary education, witnessed in the very high proportion of young people who choose to continue their studies. According to the latest figures of the Department of Statistics and Research (2007), 82% of secondary school graduates chose to enter higher education in 2006/2007. The high participation rate in tertiary education in Cyprus has been attributed to economic and societal changes. In the 1960s, government policies encouraged educational expansion at the tertiary level in an attempt to boost the development of the country’s economy. At the same time, the gradual emancipation of women resulted in their higher representation in the student body. Additional economic, cultural and institutional forces also played a role. The maintenance of a wage differential in favour of university graduates by the public sector has encouraged young Cypriots to view higher education as the means to a secure, well-paid government post. Moreover, cultural patterns associated with traditional conceptions of theoretical knowledge as superior to the knowledge of practical skills have also contributed to the phenomenal increase in demand. Finally, secondary school curricula,
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through their focus on theoretical knowledge as a basis for preparation for higher studies, have also had an effect on the higher education participation rate. Studies of the demand for higher education in Cyprus have pointed to the importance of social, economic, individual and institutional factors in the decision-making process which precedes entry into higher education (Menon, 1998; Papanastasiou & Michaelides, 1988). In the most recent study of the topic, the main factors associated with the intention to pursue higher education in the country were reported to be psychological/individual and occupational (Menon, 1998).
METHODOLOGY Surveys were used to collect primary data from a sample of 611 students enrolled in the final year of their secondary education at both general (academic) and technical (vocational) public schools in Cyprus. The schools were selected on the basis of specific characteristics (size, geographical location) in an attempt to arrive at a representative student sample. A questionnaire was administered to respondents during school time. The co-operation of school authorities and teachers secured an extremely high response rate. In the questionnaire, respondents were asked to indicate whether they planned to enter higher education after secondary school or seek employment instead. Specifically, respondents were offered a choice between the following six scenaria in an attempt to take into account possible variations in their plans: higher education entry after secondary school, higher education entry after the army (applicable to boys), direct employment after secondary school, direct employment after the army (applicable to boys), direct employment and parttime study in higher education, army and part-time study in higher education (applicable to boys). Based on their responses, respondents were finally divided into two groups: those who included higher education in their future plans and those who did not. They were also asked to report the degree to which a number of factors had influenced this decision. With the vast majority of respondents planning to enter higher education (87.1%), the responses to the question mainly concerned the scenario of higher education entry. Specifically, respondents were asked to rate the following 10 items on the basis of their importance as demand-influencing factors: • • • • • • • • • •
Friends, acquaintances Parents, relatives Economic considerations (the economic benefits of higher studies/of employment) The subjects/track chosen at secondary school The non-economic benefits of education (e.g. betterment of the individual) Secondary school instructors Secondary school career counsellors Grades/performance at secondary school Occupational factors (e.g. ability to easily secure employment) Personal/psychological factors (desires, plans)
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The following five-point scale was used in the rating of the importance of the above mentioned items: • • • • •
1 = I was not at all influenced by this item 2 = I was influenced to a small extent by this item 3 = I was influenced to a moderate extent by this item 4 = I was influenced to a great extent by this item 5 = I was influenced to a very great extent by this item
In this question, an attempt was made to include the main categories of factors reported to be important in the literature. Thus, the 10 items were selected on the basis of the findings of relevant research. The findings of previous studies conducted in Cyprus were also taken into account in their specification. Respondents were also given the chance to identify and rate any additional factors with an effect on their decision to choose higher education or direct employment after the end of their secondary school studies. In addition to the rating of the ten factors, participants were also asked to respond to an open-ended question and to discuss in their own words the main influences on their decision to enter higher education or seek employment after the completion of their secondary education. This enabled respondents to provide additional information on the effect of each factor, as well as to bring up additional variables not included in the quantitative part. Specifically, it made it possible for them to expand on the reasons for which certain factors were considered more important than others. Thus, the inclusion of an open-ended question allowed for the collection of qualitative data on the topic, resulting in a more complete picture of student motivation in the pursuit of higher studies. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics (frequencies, mean scores) were used to provide an indication of the importance of each item. In an attempt to provide a model of the demand for higher education, logistic regression analysis was employed with the educational intentions of the student serving as the dependent variable and the ten variables associated with the main demand-influencing items serving as the independent variables. In addition to the ten items which represented the students’ perceptions of the importance of demandinfluencing factors, certain objective measures of students’ characteristics were also included as independent variables. These were the student’s gender, his/her socioeconomic status and his/her ability. Socioeconomic status and ability scores were estimated on the basis of information provided by respondents in the questionnaire. Logistic models are necessary in cases of dichotomous dependent variables, as in the case of the present study, with respondents divided into those intending to enter higher education and those intending to work after secondary school. The use of the logistic regression model allowed for the estimation of the probability that an individual will choose higher education, given his/her characteristics as identified by the values of the explanatory independent variables. Thus, the use of the model made it possible to measure the relative effect of each variable on the demand for higher education. In addition to the quantitative methods of analysis, content analysis was used to study the responses to the open-ended question. This question proved to be a rich source of information as the majority of respondents (more than 60%) chose to answer it.
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RESULTS Descriptive Statistics The vast majority of respondents (87.1%) intended to enter higher education after the completion of their secondary education. The main reason for the slightly lower participation rate (82%) is the fact that some students who fail in entrance examinations to universities in Cyprus and Greece revise their initial plans with respect to higher education and enter employment instead. Of respondents, 49.7% were males and 50.3% were females. The majority (65.3%) were classified as medium and high ability students, with only 34.7% being classified as low ability. As regards socioeconomic status, the majority (69.1%) were classified as lower middle and low socioeconomic status students. The remaining (30.9%) were assigned high socioeconomic status. Descriptive statistics were used to estimate mean scores for the importance of each of the ten items included in the questionnaire in order to estimate the importance of several demandinfluencing factors (see table 1). The mean scores ranged from a high of 4.17 to a low of 1.72, indicating that students gave very different ratings in their evaluation of the ten items. The highest rating (4.17) was assigned to personal/psychological considerations, this being the only case of a mean rating above 4.00. It appears that the decision to enter higher education in Cyprus is strongly influenced by the prospective students’ personal wishes and plans. This is in agreement with the results of the previous Cyprus study (Menon, 1998), which also found personal considerations to be an extremely important influence on students’ intentions. Table 1. Demand-Ιnfluencing Factors: Frequencies and Mean Scores Influencing Factors Personal variables Occupational variables Economic variables School subjects Parents, relatives Grades / Performance Non-economic variables Friends, acquaintances Teachers Career counsellors
1 5.5 12.8 20.8 21.5 23.1 24.1 31.7 43.9 56.6 61.3
Percentage for Scale Points (%) 2 3 4 6.5 11.3 19.4 10.7 20.7 28.5 12.2 20.6 20.8 14.2 22.8 23.4 22.3 21.8 18.8 18.3 27.2 19.8 19.3 22.8 14.3 24.4 21.3 6.9 22.1 13.9 4.7 16.7 13.6 5.7
5 57.3 27.3 25.6 18.1 14.0 10.5 11.9 3.5 2.7 2.8
Mean Score 4.17 3.47 3.18 3.02 2.78 2.74 2.55 2.02 1.75 1.72
Only three variables received a rating which ranged between three and four. These were the following: occupational considerations such as the belief that university graduates will be in a better position to secure employment; economic considerations reflected in the higher rate of return to higher education; and the school subjects included in the curriculum (mean rating of 3.47, 3.18 and 3.02, respectively). All remaining variables received a rating below 3.00, which suggests that they were of less importance to respondents. Specifically, parents/relatives, grades/performance, non-economic variables and friends/acquaintances
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were assigned ratings of 2.78, 2.74, 2.55 and 2.02, respectively. Two variables were rated below 2.00, making them the least important to respondents. They were teachers (1.75) and career counsellors (1.72).
Logistic Regression Analysis As previously mentioned, a logistic regression model was used in order to identify the factors with a significant impact on the student’s educational intentions. The independent variables entered in the model included the ten demand-influencing items and three individual characteristics (gender, ability and socioeconomic status). The student’s educational intentions served as the independent variable. The aim was to identify those factors that increased the likelihood of the student forming the intention to enter higher education. Table 2 presents the standardised regression coefficients, the standard errors and the Wald statistics for the regression estimation3. The logistic coefficients (B) should be interpreted as the change in the logarithmic odds of the dependent variable associated with a one-unit change in the independent variable. As seen in table 2, four independent variables had a significant effect on the student’s intention to pursue higher education. These were personal/psychological considerations, economic considerations, the student’s gender, and the student’s ability. Table 2. Standardised Regression Coefficients, Standard Errors, and Wald Statistics Independent variables Gender SES Ability Friends, acquaintances Parents, relatives Economic variables School subjects Non-economic variables Teachers Career counsellors Grades/performance Occupational variables Personal considerations Constant N
B 0.87 0.72 1.85 -0.17 0.26 0.31 0.23 -0.08
SE 0.35 0.40 0.34 0.16 0.14 0.13 0.14 0.14
Wald 6.11* 3.16 29.99*** 1.13 3.43 6.12* 2.69 0.03
-0.17 -0.23 -0.09 0.08 0.28 -1.69 611
0.18 0.16 0.14 0.13 0.12 0.59
0.88 2.17 0.43 0.38 5.19* 8.16**
***p<0.001; **p<0.01; *p<0.05. 3
It is important to note that the logistic regression model under examination performed very well in that its use resulted in the accurate prediction of the work/higher education intention for 88.9 % of the students included in the sample.
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The variable with the highest impact on the student’s intention to enter higher education was his/her ability as reflected in the student’s grades. It is interesting to note that the respondents did not perceive this variable to have been of great importance. Thus, while the students report that they themselves did not take into account their grades to a great extent in deciding to apply to university, the regression analysis reveals a high correlation between the intention to enter higher education and the students’ grades. The significant link between a student’s objective ability and his/her educational intentions has been widely reported in the literature. In this respect, the present study reaffirms the results of previous studies on the topic. In addition to ability, gender was also an individual characteristic significantly linked to the intention to pursue higher education. The positive sign of the B coefficient indicates that girls were more likely to pursue higher education than boys. This is not surprising in the case of Cyprus, given the higher success rate of girls in university entrance examinations. At present, more than 70% of the undergraduate students at the University of Cyprus are females. Unlike ability and gender, the third individual characteristic entered in the regression equation, socioeconomic status, did not have a significant effect on demand. Thus, in the case of Cyprus, students of low socioeconomic backgrounds were not found to be less likely to form the intention to enter higher education in comparison with their higher-class counterparts. The absence of a social class disadvantage can be attributed to the fact that the strong trend towards higher education is characteristic of all social groups in Cyprus. Cypriot parents of low social class origins have been reported to encourage their children to enter higher education in the hope that, through education, their offspring could escape the problems and difficulties they had encountered (Persianis, 1981). Of the ten demand-influencing variables, two were found to have a significant effect on the intention to enter higher education. These were personal/psychological considerations and economic considerations. It appears that high scores on these two variables increased the probability of the intention to enter higher education. As shown in the descriptive statistics previously reported in this chapter, Cypriot students have a strong desire to enter higher education and plan their lives accordingly. Economic considerations, on the other hand, were also important to students who were aware of the positive link between education and earnings and its implications for their future wellbeing.
Students’ Comments on Demand-Influencing Factors As previously mentioned, students were asked to provide comments on their numerical ratings of the demand-influencing factors. Specifically, in a separate, open-ended question, respondents were asked to identify the most important influences on their decision to pursue higher education or enter employment after the completion of their secondary education and to explain why they considered these influences to be important. In this manner, respondents provided additional information on the reasons for which each factor was important to them. In what follows, we examine students’ responses to the open-ended question. The analysis of students’ responses indicates that the most prevalent motivational pattern in the pursuit of higher education was based on a combination of personal/psychological and economic/occupational considerations. Several students pointed out that their decision to enter higher education was influenced by their personal wishes and desires, as well as by
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economic/occupational motives. On the one hand, the students’ personal motivation for the choice of higher education was based on their desire to study, and work on, a field that they would find enjoyable and rewarding in the future. On the other hand, most students highlighted the economic/occupational aspects of their motivation, referring to higher education as the means to a well-paid job and to a higher rank in society. The following comments are indicative of this perspective: The economic factor is important because I would like to have a job that would offer economic comfort to both me and my family. The second factor is personal because in no case would I like to work in a field I would not like for all my life. This is something I have always wanted and it is nice to be able to combine work enjoyment with economic comfort. (Female student) Surely, when you study and have a degree, you will gain higher recognition and your starting salary will be higher than that of those who will not study; you will also climb positions more easily. This way, you will make more money. I believe that for you to study something, you need to want it from a young age; it should suit you and you should be happy with what you chose. (Male student) My inclination (talent) and my personal interests. I especially like the science subjects, which is why I will not attempt to study a field of study which is not in agreement with my wishes. I also consider my future economic situation very important and I think it is very silly for anyone to say that this aspect does not concern him. I believe that money is important and necessary in order to go ahead and reach the upper ranks of a society which leaves you no other option if you want to survive. (Female student)
In cases where respondents chose to focus on one factor, personal and economic/occupational considerations were mentioned most frequently. In the case of emphasis on personal considerations, many respondents emphasised the fact they had considered only their personal wishes and desires in deciding to enter higher education. I have made the decision alone … I want to trust myself on my choice and I did not allow anyone to influence me to a point where they could make me change my mind. (Female student) I was greatly affected by personal considerations because I believe that in life, we have to do things that we enjoy and we really want and we should not be told by those around us what we should do and how we should live our lives. We have to make our own decisions and take our own initiatives if we want to go ahead. (Female student)
Some students provided information on their specific interests in an attempt to explain how these interests had influenced the decision to pursue higher education. I love the sea and I have always had a strong curiosity about the way everything works. I want to specialise in marine biology and work in research. (Female student)
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Several respondents focused exclusively on occupational and economic considerations in discussing the most important influences on their decision to enter higher education. They pointed to the security and economic prosperity associated with a good job. The fact that I will be able to secure a job easily. I care for my future and nowadays it is difficult to find a job. With a degree, I will feel more secure about my future. (Male student)
Others pointed to the fact that it is difficult for higher education graduates to find a job and that it would be even more difficult to secure employment without higher education. It is thus obvious that a higher education degree was considered necessary by many respondents in an attempt to reduce the risks of being unemployed in the future. Moreover, respondents expected their future income to be higher with a university degree. The increased earnings from my job, which will provide me with a comfortable life, leaving me time for my other interests. (Female student) Economic reasons because nowadays everything becomes more expensive and so life will be (more expensive) after 4 years. Thus, I believe that the need for a good salary has affected me to a great extent. (Female student)
As regards school subjects, a small number of students chose to discuss this factor as a demand-influencing variable. Those who did simply pointed to the importance of school subjects and academic tracks in the school system. One female student noted that the subjects she took at secondary school helped her become aware of her interests and thus influenced her decisions. A large number of students referred to their parents in their responses. However, in many cases, parents were brought up so that the student could make a point of his/her independence from them. Thus, many respondents claimed that the choice between higher education and employment was entirely their own decision and no one, including their parents, had any influence on them. However, several respondents noted that they had been influenced by their family to a considerable extent. Parents want their child to be as educated as possible. Also, the competition that exists makes parents to demand the maximum from their children so that other people do not say that their son/daughter did not go to university. (Male student) My parents had an influence on me since they will put me through university and being older and educated, they know better than me. (Female student)
One female student noted that her parents influenced her to change her intended field of study at university because her initial choice (art) did not have a future. The student decided to study psychology instead in order to conform to her parents’ wishes. It thus appears that in
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many cases parents influence their children’s educational plans by making them more aware of the economic benefits of higher education. A relatively small number of students chose to concentrate on the effect of secondary school performance and grades on their decision to enter higher education. Some referred to a ‘special talent’ they believed they possessed and to the fact that others had encouraged them to continue into higher education based on their performance. One student noted that she could not have entered her preferred UK university without her good grades. Others pointed to their good performance in specific subjects, which led them to the decision to study these subjects at university. However, it appears that most students did not consider high grades necessary for a secondary school graduate to proceed to higher education. The number of students who chose to comment on the importance on non-economic variables was also small. The main non-economic benefit mentioned by respondents was the opportunity to offer to other people. I intend to enter higher education because I would like to study a specific subject so that I enrich my mind and I develop spiritually. Also, I want to study something I love and to instill this love in other people. (Female student)
Likewise, a female student intending to study psychology reported that she would be able to help other people with her degree. Overall, the comments to the open-ended question suggest that the economic benefits of higher education were much more important to respondents than the non-economic benefits such as the personal development of the individual student. Finally, many respondents noted that they had not been influenced by their teachers. The very few students who discussed teachers as an influencing factor simply mentioned that they had been encouraged by their teachers to proceed to higher education. A female respondent mentioned that teachers helped students in choosing a field of study with good employment prospects in order to avoid unemployment. In general, and in agreement with their numerical ratings discussed in the previous section of the chapter, respondents did not consider teachers an important source of influence on their educational plans. Career counsellors were even less important as sources of influence. The low importance accorded to career counsellors is shown by the fact that only one of the 611 respondents mentioned career counsellors in the open-ended question. Overall, the findings are similar to, but not identical with, those of the earlier Cyprus study (Menon, 1998). In the previous study, psychological and occupational variables were found to have a significant effect on the intention to pursue higher education. In the ten-year period which separated the two studies, psychological factors remained extremely important as influences on demand. The same is true of occupational factors, even though economic, rather than occupational variables, appeared to be more significantly linked to demand in the regression equation in the present study. However, the basic motivational pattern of young people with respect to higher studies continued to exhibit two major tendencies: a tendency to emphasise personal needs and plans in the decision to pursue higher education, and a tendency to value the utilitarian aspects of higher education as captured by increased occupational and financial benefits. A notable difference between the two studies was that ability and gender were significant influences on the intention to enter higher education in the
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present case, which was not the case in the earlier study. It appears that in this ten-year period, students of lower ability have become less likely to form the intention to pursue higher studies. At the same time, the absence of a male or female advantage, which was observed in the first study where students of both genders were equally likely to pursue higher education, has now turned into a female advantage.
CONCLUSION This chapter attempted an investigation of the main variables linked to the demand for higher education in Cyprus. The analysis of the data collected from a sample of secondary school seniors resulted in the following main findings: First, four variables were found to be positively correlated with demand. These were the student’s ability, the student’s gender, personal/psychological factors and economic/occupational factors. The positive effect of ability on demand is in line with the majority of available findings on the topic. In most relevant studies, higher ability students have been reported to be more likely to pursue higher education, pointing to the need for stimulating academic performance in countries wishing to increase the private demand for higher education (see, for example, Maani & Kalb, 2007). What is noteworthy in the case of Cyprus is the fact that students themselves are not aware of this connection, since respondents did not consider ability a very important demandinfluencing factor. The second individual variable with an effect on the intention to enter higher education was that of gender, with girls being more likely to pursue higher education than boys. It appears that the male advantage in higher education participation observed in many countries does not apply to Cyprus. It is important to note that a social class disadvantage is also absent in our findings, pointing to a tendency of lower class students to opt for higher education after their secondary studies. As regards personal/psychological factors and economic/occupational factors, the findings suggest that Cypriot students are characterised by an instrumentalist orientation in their decision making with respect to higher studies. They believe that higher education will fulfil their personal plans and ambitions and that its acquisition will positively affect their future earnings and employment prospects. It is important to note that the non-economic, consumption benefits of higher education, such as the improvement of the individuals who undertake it, received relatively low ratings by respondents. This points to a tendency on the part of prospective students to focus on the extrinsic benefits of higher education as opposed to its intrinsic attributes. It is important to note that further analysis of the data suggested that the reason for which some respondents did not choose higher education also involved economic considerations. In an investigation of the expected economic benefits associated with higher education and direct employment, those who sought direct employment expected higher education to be a less profitable investment than university entrants (Menon, 2008b). Second, it appears that institutional and familial influences are of relatively small importance to prospective students as demand-influencing factors. Of these variables, only school subjects were considered somewhat important, with a mean rating of 3.02. Teachers and career counsellors were considered to be the least important factors and received the lowest ratings of all variables included in the questionnaire. This indicates that prospective students did not consider their teachers and counsellors to constitute valuable sources of
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information and did not rely on them for advice and support. Parents and peers were also found to be less important than expected even though they received higher ratings than teachers and career counsellors. Third, the results of the present study suggest that the student’s motivation in the pursuit of higher education has not undergone major changes in the ten-year period which separated the present study from a previous similar study of the topic. The prominence of personal and economic and/or occupational factors was also observed in the earlier study. Since 1993, the high proportion of young people entering higher education has recorded a further small increase, indicating that personal and economic factors have retained the strength of their influence on student’s intentions with respect to higher studies. While personal and economic factors retained their importance as motivating forces in the pursuit of tertiary education, two individual characteristics, namely, gender and ability, have emerged as additional demandinfluencing factors. The findings reported in this chapter can provide the basis for educational policy measures associated with the private demand for higher education. Given the strong motivational basis for the choice of higher education, it is important that educational planners and policy makers take into account the motives of prospective students in the provision of higher education in the country. The importance assigned to economic/occupational factors suggests that students will opt for fields of study that will maximise their chances of successful employment. Economic/occupational factors are likely to remain important to students in the future as the abundance of higher education graduates is expected to further limit the employment opportunities for young people after the completion of their studies. Educational planners and policy makers must ensure that secondary school graduates avoid those higher education choices that are linked to high graduate unemployment. This could be achieved through the provision of information to young people and their parents that will allow them to make more informed choices in the choice of a field of a study in higher education. In this context, measures could be taken to promote fields of study that are more attuned to the needs of the labour market. Such fields could include professional/vocational specialisations, which, are now in lower demand. In order to support the decision making of prospective students with respect to higher studies, career counsellors and secondary school teachers could undertake a more active role in the provision of information and guidance to young people and their parents. The fact that at present, counsellors are not used as a source of information by students constitutes a source of concern and points to the need for changes in the role of career counsellors in the educational system. For instance, counsellors often lack recent, up-to-date information on labour market statistics and opportunities. This information should be provided to them on a frequent, systematic basis if they are to effectively guide the students in the choice between higher education and employment, and the choice of a field of study. At present, with one or two counsellors assigned to each secondary school, their number is too small to satisfy the information needs of secondary school students. It is thus necessary to increase the number of such individuals. Moreover, it is also necessary to provide training and support to individuals appointed to the career counselling post. The findings also have implications for the type and content of higher education programmes in that they indicate that universities must place emphasis on the employability of their graduates and their success in the labour market. This does not suggest that tertiary institutions should neglect their humanistic mission through a concentration on narrowly
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defined skills and knowledge. However, it is important that universities take into account the needs of their student public in the planning of their course offerings. In the case of Cyprus, this entails the acknowledgement of the importance of personal/psychological and economic/occupational considerations in the pursuit of higher studies. The strong motivation of young people in Cyprus in the pursuit of higher education suggests that the trend towards higher studies is likely to continue. Educational planners and policy makers need to act as facilitators in this framework since any attempt to contain the private demand for higher education is not likely to meet with success. In this context, the demand for higher education must be examined and interpreted on a regular, systematic basis. The understanding of the forces that drive young people to make specific educational and career choices can form the basis for policy measures that will benefit both the individual decision makers and society as a whole.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to Paul Gibbs for valuable comments, which led to the clarification and development of various sections of the chapter.
REFERENCES Albert, C. (2000). Higher education demand in Spain: The influence of labour market signals and family background. Higher Education, 40, 147-162. Archer, L., Hutchings, M., & Ross, A. (Eds.) (2003). Higher education and social class: Issues of exclusion and inclusion. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Archer, L., & Yamashita, H. (2003). Knowing their limits? Identities, inequalities and inner city school leavers’ post-16 aspirations. Journal of Education Policy, 18, 53-69. Barber, B. K., & Olsen, J. A. (1997). Socialisation in context: Connection, regulation, and autonomy in the family, school and neighborhood, and with peers. Journal of Adolescent Research, 12, 287-315. Baxter, A., Tate, J., & Hatt, S. (2007). From policy to practice: Pupils’ responses to widening participation initiatives. Higher Education Quarterly, 61, 266-283. Benett, R., Glennerster, H., & Nevison, D. (1992). Investing in skill: To stay or not to stay on. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 8, 130-145. Birsdall, N. (1980). A cost of siblings: Child schooling in urban Columbia. Research in Population Economics, 2, 115-150. Borus, M. E., & Carpenter, S. A. (1984). Factors associated with college attendance of high school seniors. Economics of Education Review, 3, 169-176. Buchmann, C., & Hannum, E. (2001). Education and stratification in developing countries: A review of theories of research. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 77-102. Canton, E., & de Jong, F. (2005). The demand for higher education in the Netherlands, 19501999. Economics of Education Review, 24, 651-663. Coffield, F., & Vignoles, A. (1997). Widening participation in higher education by ethnic minorities, women and alternative students. London: NCIHE.
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Connor, H. (2001). Deciding for or against participation in higher education: The views of young people from lower social class backgrounds. Higher Education Quarterly, 55, 204224. Department of Statistics and Research (2007). Statistics of education, 2006-2007. Nicosia: Nicosia Printing Office. Floud, J. E., Halsey, A. H., & Martin, F. M. (1956). Social class and educational opportunity. London: Heinemann. Forste, R., Heaton, T. B., & Haas, D. W. (2004). Adolescents’ expectations for higher education in Bogota, Colombia, and La Paz, Bolivia. Youth & Society, 36, 56-76. Freeman, R. B. (1977). Black elite. New York: McGraw-Hill. Handa, M. L., & Skolnik, M. L. (1975). Unemployment, expected returns, and the demand for university education in Ontario: Some empirical results. Higher Education, 4, 27-43. Hayden, M., & Carpenter, P. (1990). From school to higher education in Australia. Higher Education, 20, 175-196. Jimenez, J. D. D., & Salas-Velasco, M. (2000). Modeling educational choices: A binomial logit model applied to the demand for higher education. Higher Education, 40, 293-311. Kandel, D., & Lesser, G. (1970). School, family and peer influences on educational plans of adolescents in the United States and Denmark. Sociology of Education, 43, 270-287. Kodde, D. A., & Ritzen, J. (1988). Direct and indirect effects of parental education level on the demand for higher education. The Journal of Human Resources, XXIII, 356-371. Li, W. (2007). Family background, financial constraints and higher education attendance in China. Economics of Education Review, 26, 725-735. Maani, S. A., & Kalb, G. (2007). Academic performance, childhood economic resources, and the choice to leave school at age 16. Economics of Education Review, 26, 361-374. Menon, E. M. (1997). Perceived rates of return to higher education in Cyprus. Economics of Education Review, 16, 425-430. Menon, E. M. (1998). Factors influencing the demand for higher education: The case of Cyprus. Higher Education, 35, 251-266. Menon, E. M. (2008a). Perceived rates of return to higher education: Further evidence from Cyprus. Economics of Education Review, 27, 39-47. Menon, E. M. (2008b). The economic benefits of higher education in Cyprus: The expectations of prospective students. International Journal of Educational Development, 28, 259-267. Meyer, J. H. (1970). High school effects on college intentions. American Journal of Sociology, 76, 59-70. Mueller, R. E., & Rockerbie, D. (2005). Determining the demand for university education in Ontario by type of student. Economics of Education Review, 24, 469-483. OECD (1978). Individual demand for higher education: General report. Paris: OECD. Ordovensky, J. F. (1995). Effect of institutional attributes on enrollment choice: Implications for postsecondary vocational education. Economics of Education Review, 14, 335-350. Papanastassiou, C., & Michaelides, A. (1988). Factors influencing young people to enter higher education as perceived by third level education graduates who are unemployed, underemployed, or employed in occupations unrelated to their field of study. Nicosia: The Pedagogical Institute.
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Persianis, P. (1981). The political and economic factors as the main determinants of educational policy in independent Cyprus, (1960-1970). Nicosia: The Pedagogical Institute. Petrongolo, B., & San Segundo, M. J. (2002). Staying-on at school at 16: The impact of labor market conditions in Spain. Economics of Education Review, 21, 353-365. Robbins Committee on Higher Education (1963). Higher education report of committee on higher education. London: HMSO. Rosado, D. L., & David, M. E. (2006). ‘A massive university or a university for the masses?’ Continuity and change in higher education in Spain and England. Journal of Education Policy, 21, 343-365. Shavit, Y., & Blossfeld, H. P. (1993). Persisting inequality: Changing educational attainment in thirteen countries. Oxford: Westview Press. Thomas, L. (2001). Power, assumptions and prescriptions: A critique of widening participation policy-making. Higher Education Policy, 14, 361-376. Williams, T. H. (1972). Educational aspirations: Longitudinal evidence on their development in Canadian youth. Sociology of Education, 45, 107-133. Williams, G., & Gordon, A. (1981). Perceived earnings functions and ex ante rates of return to post compulsory education in England. Higher Education, 10, 199-227. Wong, A. (1989). Perceived earnings functions and ex ante rates of return to higher education. Doctoral Dissertation, University of London, London, UK. Yuchtman, E., & Samuel, Y. (1975). Determinants of career plans: Institutional versus interpersonal effects. American Sociological Review, 40, 521-531.
In: Developments in Higher Education Editor: Mary Lee Albertson
ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5 © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 6
A REVIEW OF STRATEGIES FOR SUPPORTING REFLECTION IN ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS Ting-ling Lai* and Susan M. Land* The Pennsylvania State University 314 Keller Building, University Park, PA 16803, USA
ABSTRACT Reflection is essential to deep learning and problem solving. Recently, as online courses have become available for residential students on college campuses, it is often challenging for online instructors to foster reflection. From a socio-cultural perspective, reflection is developed through social interaction and semiotic mediation (Vygotsky, 1978; Wells, 1999). Students need to be given opportunities to review their own and others’ mental processes and to use techniques such as writing or verbal reports to organize and revise thoughts (Cobb, Boufi, McClain & Whitenack, 1997). In addition, students also need guidance in reflection; without guidance, reflection can become selfreferential, inward looking and superficial (Boud & Walker,1998), and lead to aimless retrospective thinking. This paper reviews strategies for supporting reflection in online environments, primarily focusing on journaling / blogging and small group asynchronous discussion. We discuss how these strategies support reflection, and survey studies that investigate the effectives of the two strategies. We also provide suggestions for guidance and evaluation of reflection with online learning environments.
INTRODUCTION Recent research has investigated how reflection supports learning in a variety of contexts. A number of instructional techniques can support reflection, such as weekly reports (e.g., May & Etkina, 2002; Palmer, 2004), concept maps, question prompts (e.g., Lin & Lehman, 1999), teacher-led classroom discussions (e.g., Cobb et al., 1997), computer-supported * *
[email protected] [email protected]
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collaborative learning environments (see for example, Hmelo, Guzdial & Turns, 1998; Loh et al., 1997; Scardamalia et al., 1989; Schwartz et al., 1999). Lin and her colleagues (1999) summarized several uses of technology to support reflection, including process displays, process prompts, process models, and reflective social discourse. Dewey (1938) claimed that ‘We do not learn from all experiences; we only learn from the experiences on which we reflect.’ (p.78). Recent efforts to support student reflection have used technology to help learners reflect upon and organize ideas and make thinking more explicit and “visible” (Linn, 2000). One area of research involves helping learners individually to process and reflect upon their own and others’ learning experiences more productively. Another area of research emphasizes the social nature of reflection, and the use of dialog and social interaction with others as a means for articulating and reflecting on multiple perspectives. Consequently, this chapter reviews research related to two primary means of supporting reflection: learning journals and collaborative peer discussion. This chapter will review the theoretical background of reflection strategies, followed by assessment, guidance, and implications for design.
JOURNAL WRITING AS A REFLECTIVE ACTIVITY Writing is a well-known instructional strategy that supports learning and thinking. From a socio-cultural perspective, writing is a psychological tool rather than an activity in its own right (Wells, 1999). By engaging in writing, students are required to employ deep cognitive processing, for example, systematically organize concepts, discover, review, and retention (Emig, 1977; Fulwiler, 1987; Langer & Applebee, 1987). Teachers use writing to serve three main purposes: (1) to draw on relevant knowledge and experience in preparation for new activities; (2) to consolidate and review new information and experiences; and (3) to reformulate and extend knowledge (Langer & Applebee, 1987). According to Vygotsky, the process of writing requires writers to develop a more conscious and intentional status to transfer inner speech into written text. The writing process promotes deliberation and systematic thinking; it is also a process of problem solving (Scardamalia, Bereiter, & Steinbach, 1986). A number of writing activities, such as note taking, summarizing, answering, and essay questions, have been shown to support learning (Keys, 1999; King, 1994). Qualitative studies have indicated that expressive writing, especially writing in journals, plays a key role in developing personal understandings of different science material (Powell & Lopez, 1989; Roth & Rosaen, 1991; Strauss & Fulwiler, 1987, cited in Keys, 1999). Traditionally, journals are used in literature and language arts classes to help writers experiment with language and document their progress (Fulwiler, 1987). Recently, journal writing has become an effective writing exercise that is used in connecting thoughts, feelings, experiences and actions for self-development, professional education, and literacy. Learning journals can be described as a written document that students create as they respond to various concepts, events, or interactions over a period of time for the purpose of gaining insights into self-awareness and learning.” (Thorpe, 2004, p.328). The distinguishing features of learning journals are that students are able to (1) express their observations, opinions and experiences informally in a loose structure and in first-person voice; (2) keep entries over a
A Review of Strategies for Supporting Reflection in Online Learning Environments 121 period of time; (3) summarize and evaluate their learning process and product; and/or (4) elaborate concepts they learned from class (Lai and Land, 2007).
How Journal Writing Supports Reflection Journal writing can support learning and reflection in both cognitive and metacognitive domains. When students are composing entries, they recapture what they have learned in class. Frequent review and connection between new information and prior knowledge promotes integration and organization of knowledge (Weinstein and Mayer, 1986). Studies have found that use of written journals leads to better learning outcomes. For instance, Jurdak and Zein (1998) report that middle school students who spent 7 to 10 minutes at the end of each math class summarizing the course content and listing difficulties performed better on conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge, and mathematical communication than students who took drill and practice at the end of each math class. Meel (1999) found that college students in a calculus class who emailed their weekly journal to the instructor had higher averages on the unit test, proficiency exam, and final. Similar results also found in May and Etkina’s (2002) study that students with high conceptual gains had better reflection than students with lower conceptual gains. Self-verbalization can promote self-regulated learning (Harris, 1990). Similarly, reflective journal writing is associated with improving capacities of metacognitive awareness. Studies have shown that journal writing can support metacognitive awareness. McCrindle and Christensen (1995) investigated college students’ metacognitive level between journal writing and a scientific report group. Freshmen in a biology class recorded their reflections on the course content and the process of that content each week. Mostly, students reflected on what they learned in the lab session, strategies they used, and evaluations or recommendations for their future use. The results indicated that journal writers used more advanced strategies for learning and had greater metacognitive awareness about their task. Also, students in the journal group were more likely to use elaboration strategies, while students in the scientific report group were more likely to use rehearsal strategies. The journal writers performed better than the science-report group on the class examination and had more developed knowledge structures. As for their conceptual learning, students in the journal group had more complex and abstract understandings than the science report group. The process of reviewing and revising journal entries also help students to reflect. In Palmer’s (2004) study, engineering students kept weekly online reflection journals for an engineering management course. Students in the study reported that journal writing was most useful for continuous revision of course material, and in comparing their understanding of the course material with that of other students. Students reflect not only on personal experiences, but also from observation of peers’ performance or correct models (Moreno and Mayer, 2005). Students benefit from opportunities to reassess the efficacy of strategies and procedures used in problem solving (Mezirow, 1990). College students in May and Etkina’s study (2002) reported that reading peers’ journals helped them to understand concepts. Similar results were also found in teacher training research (e.g., Hammersley-Fletcher & Orsmond, 2005). Teachers usually assign journals for a variety of practical reasons, such as to (1) help students find personal connections to the material they are studying in class and text books,
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(2) provide a place for students to think about, learn, and understand course matter, (3) collect observations, responses, and data, and (4) allow students to practice their writing before handing it in to be graded (Fulwiler, 1987, p. 6). Journals have been used in several ways, such as to summarize what students have learned from lectures, readings, or course assignments (e.g., Ballantyne & Packer, 1995), to list difficulties in learning tasks (e.g., Jurdak & Zein, 1998), to apply course concepts to life experiences (e.g., Connor-Greene, 2000), or to evaluate a course (e.g., Wagner, 1999).
Journal Writing in Online Learning Environments With Web 2.0 technology, students can now easily write journal entries via electronic mail, blogging sites, or discussion forums (e.g., Andrusyszyn, 1997; Meel, 1999; Nückles, Schwonke, Berthold & Renkl, 2004). Students can submit their weekly journal entries to instructors, or post their reflections online to share with peers. One example of a Web-based journal is a Weblog (blog). A blog is a personal publishing system that contains many short posts organized in reverse chronological order. Posts may include text, images, audio, video clips and any other digital formats that can be served on the Internet. Students can work individually or collaboratively to write their own personal reflection, document their learning process and problems, filter information found on the Internet, or comments on the news (Blood, 2002 ; Buggetun and Wasson, 2006). Compared to traditional journals, blogs enable more features for reflection. For example, blog writers can label each post and categorize it according to their own knowledge structure. This category function serves as a metacognitive tool which allows writers to review and re-organize their own knowledge structure. Blogs extend individual, private, one way written discourse to a collaborative, interactive, multimedia presentation. Blogs are not only used as a reflection tool, but are also used for personal portfolio development, knowledge management, and community building (Oravec, 2002; Wang, Fix, Bock, 2004; William & Jacob, 2004). Blog writers can decide the interactive level by allowing readers to leave comments in each post, to use RSS (Rich Site Summary) to subscribe to blogs, or to cite the content. Bloggers can directly or indirectly intend to invite the community for conversation (Wrede, 2003, cited in Baggetun, et al, 2006). On the other hand, readers can use aggregators to collect these blog posts, so that they can organize new information according to their needs. Like paper-based journals, blogs have also been used in educational applications. Students are encouraged to use blogs to document the design process (MacColl, et al, 2005); to review and discuss teaching practices (Tan, 2006), or to use as a preparation for further peer discussion (Wang, et al. 2005). Ferdig and Trammell (2004) compared the blog with other asynchronous discussion forums, such as newsgroups and bulletin boards, and proposed that the blog may be more successful in promoting conversational interactivity and higherorder thinking and active learning. Blogs foster more critical and analytical writing, as they force students to confront their own opinions and contemplate how their view might be interpreted and reflected on by others (Williams & Jacobs, 2004).
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Guidance to Support Reflective Journaling Students at a beginning level of reflection may require more teacher-directed structure than more advanced students (Paterson, 1995). One way to accommodate the level of students’ reflection is to post questions to elicit specific types of thinking (Edwards, 1992; Smyth, 1989) A number of instructional strategies that provide guidance for reflective journaling have been proposed. Most include a summary of weekly course content to link theory and practice with observations of real world cases, elaborated from the learner’s own opinions and report of learning progress. Studies indicated that students need to be provided with explicit instruction in order to compose reflective journal entries (Thorpe, 2000). Models are also suggested for students to look at specific examples of journal entries. Moon (1999b) suggests to structure journal entries to include the following characteristics: (1) a description of observations or issues; (2) new information or revision of a former theory; (3) personal reflection––relating experiences, reinterpreting from different points of view, including different contextual factors, or linking theory to practice; and (4) action plans that resolve problems that conflict with existing knowledge. These processes go on to add either more reflection, reach a resolution, or return to the description of an event due to reviewing of a new purpose against the original. As for the format, journals can be students’ individual journals that are submitted during or after classes; a dialogue journal, which is a two-way communication with instructors (e.g., Hanrahan, 1999); or a group journal, in which a group of students completes a project (e.g., Abrams, 2001). Another factor affecting reflective journal writing includes the quantity and quality of teachers’ and peers’ feedback (Paterson, 1995). Studies have shown that journal writers benefit from both instructors’ and peers’ feedback. Instructors who provide regular feedback to prompt and reinforce analytic responses may likely maintain a high level of cognitive engagement throughout the course (Ballantyne & Packer, 1995). The feedback can model thinking processes, offer ways of organizing or expanding upon ideas, direct students to a relevant direction, and ease students’ learning anxiety (Meel, 1999; Paterson, 1994). Discussing entries in small groups would also contribute to shaping students’ responses from different perspectives (Ballantyne & Packer, 1995).
COLLABORATIVE PEER DISCUSSIONS TO SUPPORT REFLECTION In the past few decades, peer discussion has been employed in various learning contexts. There are two approaches to framing the learning mechanisms involved in the group context (Webb & Palinscar, 1996). One is the social interaction process from Vygotsky, while the other is cognitive conflict from Piaget. According to Vygotsky, one’s intellectual development appears twice. First, it appears between people on an interpsychological plane, and then on an intrapsychological plane. Social interaction is an internalization of social processes to fit the individual’s cognitive systems. Social interactions allow the learner to activate under-developed cognitive functions that enable him/her to perform on a higher cognitive level (Salomon et al., 1989). Vygotsky
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emphasized that learning does not merely occur when the individual participates in social interaction; rather, the individual’s intrapsychological plane also affects the internalized process of social interaction (Wertsch, 1991). Based on Piaget’s concept of “disequilibrium,” cognitive conflict is another mechanism in the group process. Cognitive conflict arises when the learner perceives a contradiction between his/her formed experiences and present understanding. This conflict leads learners to question their beliefs and try to find new meaning. Cognitive conflict is essential to the development of knowledge. Sometimes this perspective also refers to social-cognitive conflict, which results from the learner’s social exchanges (Webb & Palincsar, 1996). Chan (2001) compared grade 9 and grade 12 students working with peers and individually on different levels of conceptual conflict problems. The study found that peer discussion was more beneficial for older students and students in most conceptual conflict groupings. According to Piaget, cognitive conflicts are more likely to arise when learners work with peers than when they work with adults or advanced learners, because learners do not cooperate equally with advanced learners and do not exercise mutual control over the interaction. Studies found that peer discussion is more generative and exploratory than teacher-guided discussion (Hogan, Nastasi, & Pressley, 2000) and is more likely to use active reasoning than discussion with adults (De Lisi & Golbeck, 1999).
Peer Discussion to Support Knowledge Construction and Reflection In a group learning context, learners talk to each other to present their ideas and perspectives. They may ask questions, provide information, and suggest plans of action. Peer discussion requires learners to (1) articulate thoughts; (2) recognize the differences among peers’ perspectives, values, and general understandings; (3) negotiate meanings; and (4) refine the perspective to agreed-on meanings and understandings. Scholars assert that even without any responses from peers, students can “think aloud,” which helps the students to clarify their own ideas, elaborate them, evaluate existing knowledge for accuracy and gaps, integrate and reorganize knowledge, or in some other manner reconceptualize the material (Brown & Campione, 1986). When learners make their thinking explicit, they may discover that their own perspectives, facts, assumptions, values, and general understandings of the material differ to a greater or lesser extent from those of their peers. To reconcile the discrepancies, the group members may negotiate understanding and meaning with each other. The negotiations occur when learners explain concepts to each other, defend their own views, ask thought-provoking questions, hypothesize, speculate about alternative interpretations, evaluate suggestions for feasibility, revise plans, and in general arrive at agreed-upon meaning and plans. These processes of meaning negotiation with others are continually reorganizing and restructuring learners’ own knowledge and thinking processes. Working alone would not typically result in the same extent of cognitive development. Webb (1989) reported that students who gave detailed elaborate explanations achieved more in peer discussion groups. King (1989) also found that students who have more verbal interaction are more likely to succeed in problem solving. Further, students who asked more task-related questions of each other reached higher levels of strategy elaboration than did unsuccessful pairs.
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Asynchronous Online Discussion to Support Reflection Online discussion is a way for learners using networked computers to exchange messages as they discuss a topic of mutual interest (Gunawardena, Lowe, & Anderson, 1997). Asynchronous online discussion supports reflection in several ways. For example, learners are able to compose their responses over elapsed time. Thus, students have more time to think and organize their thoughts (Harasim, 1993). Further, network technology enables learners’ reasoning and thinking to be made visible by displaying, tracing, and recording students’ arguments, including how thoughts change through the help of others (Hmelo, Guzdial, & Turns, 1998; Lin et al., 1999; Scardamalia et al., 1989). Many computer-supported collaborative learning environments embed peer discussion as one important component to support students’ reflection. These learning environments foster a community environment that supports students in communicating with each other, sharing notes, and commenting and building on each other’s arguments. Another advantage of network technology is that it supports learners from different cultures to communicate and share different perspectives (Lin et al., 1997). Similar to face-to-face discussion, students in asynchronous online discussion are able to make their ideas explicit and compare their ideas to those of peers (Pena-Shaff & Gay, 2001). Previous studies have found that discussants in computer-mediated learning environments tended to spend more time monitoring and reflecting on ideas than in face-to-face interactions alone (Cohen & Scardamalia, 1998; Dillon, 1994) and generated more task-related ideas and perspectives than in face-to-face conditions (Jonassen & Kown, 2001). Hawkes (2001) compared in-service teachers’ reflection levels on a problem-based learning curriculum with face-to-face and asynchronous discussion. He found that teachers in an asynchronous discussion group were more reflective by reviewing the purposes of the task and products of discussion, while teachers in the face-to-face discussion group were task-focused. In Cohen and Scardamalia’s (1998) study, there were similar amounts of self-monitoring in both face-to-face and computer-supported collaborative learning conditions, and little coordinating of others in either condition. There was a higher portion of metaprocess (i.e., monitoring one’s own ideas, monitoring ideas of others, and coordinating the ideas of all participants to create a more integrated framework for their work) in the face-to-face condition. Students were more likely to monitor others’ ideas and experiments when using the computer-supported collaborative condition, while in face-to-face conditions, students were more likely to monitor their own ideas and past work.
Format of Discussion Research findings related to online discussion have revealed a number of principles for fostering effective discussion and reflection. Examples include selecting discussion topics that relate to learners’ experiences, (Hsi & Hoadley 1997), asking higher-order questions (Hara, Bonk, & Angeli, 2000), designing discussions around an anchor, such as a case or a question (Hmelo, Guzdial, & Turns, 1998), and providing explicit scaffolding to encourage collaboration and reflection (Land & Dornisch, 2001). Studies suggest that either studied in solo or interactively, explicitness of task instruction is more important than task format (Lamy, 2003). Gilbert and Dabbagh (2005) found that
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evaluation rubrics, such as the requirement of even distribution of postings and increased grade weights, have a positive impact on online discourse. That is, students who received evaluation rubrics had more peer interaction posts and made more inferences. However, if the discussion protocols mandated reading citations or limiting the length of posts, students’ posts dropped and showed a lower level of cognitive processing.
Drawbacks of Online Discussion to Foster Reflection Although online discussion holds promise to foster high-order thinking, some drawbacks have been reported. For example, Kanuka and Anderson (1998) indicated that unstructured asynchronous forums can provide metacognitive reflection and exposure to multiple perspectives, but they may not promote the application of new knowledge. In other words, students can monitor, plan, and judge different perspectives, but cannot always formulate or revise their own perspectives. Murphy (2004) examined an online asynchronous discussion via a six-level framework––social presence, articulating individual perspectives, accommodating or reflecting on the perspectives of others, co-constructing shared perspectives and meanings, building shared goals and purposes, and producing shared artifacts. She found that participants engaged primarily in processes related to social presence and articulating individual perspectives. Also, there was little evidence of accommodating or referring to the perspectives of others, which is consistent with other studies (e.g., Henri, 1992) showing that many participants in online discussions are engaged in monologues rather than in a genuine interaction. Also, discussion can be limited in depth and breadth, and individual understanding can be unrelated to the group’s understanding or to some opinion leaders in the group (Bianchini, 1995). Chen and Hung (2002) purported that online discussion forums lack the facility to support personalized knowledge representation. It is not easy to develop ownership of most discussion issues. One may mistakenly assume that all students who contributed to the collection have learned from it.
ASSESSING LEVEL OF REFLECTION DURING JOURNAL WRITING AND ONLINE DISCUSSION One of the main issues with using journal writing and online discussion as a significant classroom practice is related to how to effectively assess students’ reflection. This section describes various approaches to assess and evaluate depth of reflection.
Self-Report Survey One method to assess general reflection is a self-report survey. Kember et al. (2000) developed a 5-point Likert survey based on Mezirow’s (1990) critical reflection model that includes the following categories: habitual action, understanding, reflection, and critical reflection. Questions from reflection categories included: “I often reflect on my actions to see
A Review of Strategies for Supporting Reflection in Online Learning Environments 127 whether I could have improved on what I did,” and “I often re-appraise my experience so I can learn from it and improve for my next performance.” Critical reflection questions focus more on whether the learner changes original concepts. Critical reflection questions included: “The course has challenged some of my firmly held ideas,” “As a result of this course I have changed my normal way of doing things,” and “During this course I discovered faults in what I had previously believed to be right.” This type of instrument is designed to assess gains in perceived reflection during the scope of a course. Typically, students take the questionnaire at the beginning of the course and then again at the end of the course to assess the extent to which students perceive that their reflection has increased.
Content Analysis of Written Discourse Assessing level of reflection during online discussion can be complex. Several techniques are used to assess the quality of discussion. Most researchers use content analyses of discussion posts to analyze level of reflection. Coding schemes for content analysis differ according to the purposes and content of the discussion. For example, Henri (1992) proposed five key dimensions—participation rate, interaction type, social cues, cognitive skills and metacognitive skills and knowledge. Gunawardena, Lowe, & Anderson (1997) developed a five-stage coding scheme to examine the knowledge construction process— sharing/comparing of information; discovery and exploration of dissonance or inconsistency among ideas, concepts, or statements; negotiation of meaning; testing and modification of proposed synthesis; and agreement statements. Sparks-Langer et al. (1990) reported seven levels of reflection that distinguish types of language and thinking: (1) no descriptive language; (2) simple, layperson description; (3) events labeled with appropriate terms; (4) explanation with tradition or personal preference given as the rationale; (5) explanation with principle/theory given as the rationale; (6) explanation with principle/theory and consideration of context factor; and (7) explanation with consideration of ethical, moral, and political issues. Although the coding scheme mirrors Gagne’s (1968) hierarchy of thinking, it is aligned primarily to the linguistic structure of discourse than to a model of reflective thinking. Hatton and Smith (1995) developed a series of rubrics to assess reflective writing for teacher training, including no reflection, descriptive reflection, dialogic reflection, and critical reflection. No reflection is a level in which students simply describe the action without relating it to their explanation, meaning, or judgment. Descriptive reflection focuses on one’s own perspective. Dialogic reflection not only includes multiple perspectives, but also analyzes and integrates factors and perspectives. In this level, students may recognize inconsistencies and provide deliberate rationales and critique. Critical reflection includes multiple perspectives, influenced by multiple historical and socio-political contexts. Based on Hatton and Smith’s (1995) and others’ coding schemes, Maclellan (2004) added three categories to comprise three elements of the reflective process—the conceptualization, the implication, and the veracity of the issue; and four hierarchical levels of reflection: technical, descriptive, dialogical, and critical. The two coding schemes have been used to analyze written discourse in professional training.
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CONCLUSION This chapter reviewed current research related to two primary strategies for fostering student reflection: written journals and collaborative peer discussion. Research shows that, regardless of the specific strategies used, reflection needs guidance. Without guidance, reflection can be unfocused and superficial. By supporting students to reflect and build upon each other’s work and to engage the collaborative knowledge building process, increased reflection is more likely to be realized. More research is needed, however, in advancing our understanding of what strategies best support reflection and how to measure reflection in contexts that are scalable to most practices of online education – particularly those that support large class sizes.
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A Review of Strategies for Supporting Reflection in Online Learning Environments 131 Land, S. M., & Dornisch, M. M. (2001). A case study of student use of asynchronous bulletin board systems (BBS) to support reflection and evaluation. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 30(4), 365-377. Langer, J. A., & Applebee, A. N. (1987). How writing shapes thinking: A study of teaching and learning. NCTE Research Report No. 22. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. Lin, X., Hmelo, C., Kinzer, C. K., & Secules, T. J. (1999). Designing technology to support reflection. Educational Technology Research and Development, 47(3), 43-62. Lin, X. & Lehman, J. D. (1999). Supporting learning of variable control in a computer-based biology environment: Effects of prompting college students to reflect on their own thinking. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36(7), 837-858. Loh, B., Radinsky, J., Reiser, B. J., Gomez, L. M., Edelson, D. C., & Russell, E. (1997). The progress portfolio: Promoting reflective inquiry in complex investigation environments. In R. Hall, N. Miyake, & N. Enyedy (Eds.), Proceedings of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning. ’97 (pp. 169-178). Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Maclellan, E. (2004). How reflective is academic essay? Studies in Higher Education, 29(1), 75-89. May, D. B. & Etkina, E. (2002). College physics students’ epistemological self-reflection and its relationship to conceptual learning. American Journal of Physics, 70(12), 1249-1258. MacColl, I. Morrison, A. Muhlberger, R. Simpson, M. & Viller, S (2005) Reflections on reflection: Blogging in undergraduate design studios Blogtalk Downunder Conference 2005 McCrindle, A.& Christensen, C. (1995). The impact of learning journals on metacognitive process and learning performance. Learning and Instruction, 5(3), 167-185. Meel, D. E. (1999). Email dialogue journals in a college calculus classroom: A look at the implementation and benefits. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 18(4), 387-413. Mezirow, J. (1990). Fostering critical reflection in adulthood: A guide to transformative and emancipatory learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Moon, J. A. (1999a). Reflection in learning and professional development: Theory and practice. London: Kogan Page. Moon, J. A. (1999b). Learning journals: A handbook for academics, students and professional development. London: Kogan Page. Moor, A. D. & Efimova, L. (2004) An Argumentation Analysis of Weblog Conversations. In M. Aakhus, M. Lind, eds. Proceedings of the 9th International Working Conference on the Language-Action Perspective on Communication Modelling (LAP 2004). Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ. 197-212 Moreno, R., & Mayer, R. E. (2005). Role of guidance, reflection, and interactivity in an agent-based multimedia game. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(1), 117-128. Murphy, E. (2004). Recognizing and promoting collaboration in an online asynchronous discussion. British Journal of Educational Technology, 35(4), 421-431. Nückles, M., Schwonke, R., Berthold, K., & Renkl, A. (2004). The use of public learning diaries in blended learning. Journal of Educational Media, 29 (1), 49–66. Oravec, J. A. (2003). Blending by blogging: Weblogs in blended learning initiatives. Journal of Educational Media, 28(2/3), 225-233.
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In: Developments in Higher Education Editor: Mary Lee Albertson
ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5 © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 7
INTERNET VIRTUAL AND REMOTE CONTROL INTERFACE FOR ROBOTICS EDUCATION Carlos A. Jara, Francisco A. Candelas and Fernando Torres Department of Physics, System Engineering and Signal Processing, University of Alicante; PO Box 03080, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain
ABSTRACT Experiments allow students to develop a deep understanding of theoretical lessons. Thus, the role of experimentation is a key concept in the education world, mainly in science and engineering disciplines. However, problems such as expensive equipment and limited time, prevent teachers having sufficient educational platforms for student experimentation. With the development of Internet technology, educational institutions have been expanding the available resources for practical learning thanks to Web-based experimentation, which represents an essential issue in the development of e-learning solutions in the current education paradigm. Nowadays, one of the most important weblearning resources is the virtual and remote laboratory, which allows access to experimentation environments at any time, at any place. Its interactivity encourages students to play a more active role in the e-learning process and provides them with realistic hands-on experience. Robotics is an essential topic in the current technological world, and robotic systems have accomplished an explosive growth in the last few years. Consequently, educators have to provide students practical environments to improve their robotic experience. For this reason, the research group to which authors belong have developed a virtual and remote laboratory for training and learning in Robotics called RobUALab.ejs (http://robualab.eps.ua.es). This system allows users to simulate and test positioning commands for a robot by means of a virtual environment with augmented reality support, as well as execute high-level commands in a real remote robot through the Internet. The application has been developed using Java, which allowed a full portability and an interactive graphical user interface. The most important aspect of the system presented is that it collects many interesting features such as a complete robot and world simulation, a very realistic 3D graphical environment, robot dynamics, programming, remote power,
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1. INTRODUCTION Teleoperation and Telerobotics are technologies that support physical action at a distance [1]. They were first used in 1954 in a nuclear power station to protect workers from radiation: an original mechanical teleoperator was created to manipulate highly toxic materials in precise ways [2]. This machine supported a form of control in which the master (human) directly guided the motion of the slave (remote robot). This is known as Teleoperation. On the other hand, the term Telerobotics implies a human-robot communication by means of high-level commands where the robot precision is combined with human intelligence. Nowadays, both technologies are used inside dangerous environments where the presence of man is not allowed. The use of the Internet together with advanced network languages such as Java were the precursors of Online Robots [3]: remote robotic devices that enabled people to provide adequate robotic learning elements. Some of the first successful telerobotic systems controlled through the Internet were the USC Mercury Project [4], the Telegarden Project [5] and the telerobotic system developed at the UWA (University of Western Australia) [6] where users could move the robot arm and manipulate objects in the workspace. These Internet-based remote laboratories opened a new pathway for robotics e-learning. Because of the explosive growth in the Robotics discipline, students are required to maintain their rapidly expanding knowledge. However, theoretical lessons do not provide enough knowledge to students. Laboratory work offers them practical issues to improve their robotic experience. Nevertheless, many problems such as expensive equipment and limited time prevent teachers having sufficient educational robotic laboratories. As a solution to this, new technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Virtual and Remote Laboratories (VRL) provide a distance teaching framework, which meets the student hands-on learning needs. They solve the problems mentioned above, offering a great number of advantages: • • • •
Remote practices: students can take part without having to be present in the laboratory. Learning in a free and flexible way in contrast to a fixed and regular class schedule. Remote access to real equipment that allows the management of robots through the Internet from anywhere at anytime. Expensive systems can be used, which would generally be impossible in common situations.
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Therefore, following the essential idea that was mentioned in [7]: “Educators must have an open attitude towards new technologies”, a virtual and remote laboratory called RobUALab.ejs (http://robualab.eps.ua.es) has been developed for training and learning in Robotics. This system allows users to simulate and test positioning commands for a robot by means of a virtual environment with Augmented Reality (AR) support, as well as execute the validated commands in a real remote robot through the Internet. The application has been developed using Easy Java Simulations (Ejs) [8], which have allowed a full portability and an interactive graphical user interface based on VR and AR. The application contains other interesting and advanced features, which perform complete software for simulation and teleoperation of a robotic system. Among them, it is worth noting the use of high-level communication protocols (HTTP/HTTPS) for remote operation and several options for feedback information to the user (video stream and graphical updating of the 3D simulation). In addition, this e-learning application presented is being used in the course “Robot and Sensorial Systems” at the University of Alicante and belongs to a network of several virtual and remote laboratories called “AutomatL@bs”(http://lab.dia.uned.es/automatlab), where users can share knowledge by means of a collaborative environment based in eMersion [9]. This chapter is organized as follows. First, a brief state of the art about VRL is explained. The following section describes basic aspects of Ejs, a Java-based tool which has been used to create the application presented. Afterwards, Section 4 describes the different aspects of the system including hardware and software components. Section 5 explains the main features of the application developed. Next, experimental results about the system functionality are presented. In Section 7, some experiments performed are explained. Finally, an educational evaluation of the system and the conclusion are shown in Section 8.
2. BACKGROUND One of the most interesting aspects of the evolution of the World Wide Web is the appearance of e-learning. E-Learning is defined as the process of using electronic technology to map the traditional teaching and learning activities in an educational process where the instructor and the students are geographically separated [10]. With this technological revolution, engineering education started a new era based on the use of the Internet. Nowadays, many fields of engineering use e-learning systems in the educational process. In the case of Control Education, some applications are focused in the study of stability of linear and nonlinear systems [11]. Others study the parameter behaviour of real systems [12]. Important in this field is the PEARL project [13], a remote experimental laboratory accessible for students with a range of disabilities. Some more examples of e-learning platforms in other engineering fields, such as Image Processing and Industrial Automation, can be seen in the following references [14, 15]. In the field of industrial Robotics (robot arms), many different systems have been reported since Goertz introduced the first mechanical teleoperator. As mentioned earlier, the first telerobotic system on the web was the USC Mercury Project in 1994. Here, a digital camera and air jet device were mounted on a robot arm so that anyone could view and excavate for artefacts in a sandbox located in a remote laboratory at the University of
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Southern California. Secondly, towards the end of 1995, a new telerobotic system called Telegarden was developed in the same place. This remote laboratory allows planting and watering a garden by using the Internet. Thirdly, the Australian Telerobot through the web of the UWA enables user to manipulate little pieces on a board, following a pick-and-place strategy. Since then, more Online Robots have appeared with less importance than the three explained above [16, 17]. Nowadays, there are fewer applications with educational purpose that use robot arms. Three outstanding educational telerobotic systems are the UJI Robot [18], RLab [19] and Robolab [20]. UJI Robot consists of a multi-robot architecture system that gives access to both educational and industrial robots through the Internet. Moreover, this system uses augmented reality and natural language recognition to manipulate the robot arm. With regard to RLab, it is a collection of Internet-based remote rapid prototyping laboratories for Control and Robotics subjects, which provides users with on-line access to real hardware for remote experimentation. Finally, Robolab is an open architecture for simulating and teleoperating different robot arms. Despite other developed tools, the virtual and remote laboratory presented here has some distinctive features. Table 1 shows a comparative study among the telerobotic systems mentioned above and the presented in this chapter (RobUALab). Table 1. Comparative study among different VRL Property/VRL Web based Virtual Reality Augmented Reality High Level Commands Off-line Programming Booking System Remote Programming Dynamics Model Object Recognition Remote Device Control
RLab ● ● ●
Robolab ● ● ●
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3. EASY JAVA SIMULATIONS FUNDAMENTALS Virtual and remote laboratories have been used both in industry and in engineering education for many years. They provide workers and students tools for exploring and testing the system, and can help them to understand some complex concepts through simulation and remote teleoperation. However, creating a computer simulation requires an extra effort because it needs the programming and technical expertise to describe the system in computer language. With Ejs, the task of creating a computer simulation is greatly simplified. Ejs is an open-source tool developed in Java language designed for the creation of interactive virtual labs [8]. This software was developed for the Open Source Physics Project, which was established to create and distribute curricular material for physics computation [21]. The computer simulations created with Ejs can be used as stand-alone Java program under different operation systems or be distributed via the Internet as applets.
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The principal reason for choosing Ejs to create our virtual and remote laboratory is its simplicity of use and that it is not necessary to have specific programming skills. Therefore, there has not been needed a big investment of time to create an interactive graphical user interface. In this way, it has allowed us to concentrate most of our time on other tasks such as the robotic system model, teleoperation functions, etc. In addition, the simulations created with Ejs can be integrated in common e-learning environments [22]. Finally, although there are many virtual labs developed with Ejs, up to now only a few have been developed in the field of Robotics. Generally, they are very simple (a few joints, skeleton models, simple control, etc) despite the full capabilities that Ejs is able to offer. Thus, the system proposed here is a complete virtual and remote laboratory based on Ejs.
4. TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION 4.1. Hardware Components The different hardware components are shown in Figure 1. There are two clear parts linked by the Internet: the user’s computer and the laboratory equipment. The User’s PC requires only Internet access, a web browser, Java and Java 3D runtimes components as software. This allows users to use different kinds of computers or operating systems in order to run the application from anywhere at anytime. In the laboratory, the only pieces that require a considerable investment are the robot arm, its controller and the automatic conveyor belt. For the development of this robotic plant, a robot Scorbot ER-IX (Intelitek) of 5 DOF with an electric gripper is used for teleoperation. The rest of hardware components are simple computers.
Figure 1. Hardware Components.
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The Main Server is a PC, which includes the web site from where the user can download the Java application to simulate and to teleoperate the robot. The Tele-operation Server validates the commands that the robot receives from a user’s computer, translates them to the appropriate robot language, and sends them to the robot controller. The IP camera allows users to receive video streams by means of the HTTP protocol as feedback during the teleoperation processes. Finally, a PLC connected with the Main Server permits remote power control of the laboratory.
4.2. Software Architecture With regard to the software design, there are three main blocks to be considered: the Client Applet, the Main Server and the Tele-operation Server software (Figure 2). The Client Applet is an Ejs application that can be downloaded from the Main Server. In this program, the main parts are the robot model which manages the 3D simulation, which is based in the Ejs library of Java 3D, and the functions used in the teleoperation tasks.
Figure 2. Software components.
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When the user gets a path planning validated by the simulation, he/she can request the teleoperation module of the application. At this moment, a PHP module located in the Main Server takes over the control, and verifies the user’s identity. If the user is registered in the user database, the PHP module creates a socket communication which acts as a bridge between the Client Applet and the Tele-operation Server. The latter is a Java program that attends connections from the Main Server. A connection includes a command list to be executed in the robot and the corresponding feedback data. When the Tele-operation Server receives a command list, it does a simulation of the commands in order to verify that they are correct. This simulation is based on the same robot model as the client application and guarantees the correct use of the robot.
4.3. Communication Protocols The protocols HTTP and HTTPS are used in the communication between the Client Applet and the Main Server (Figure 2). The main advantage of using high-level protocols is that any connection between a client and the web server is possible, independently of the networks and firewalls to be crossed. This simplifies the use of the application since users do not have to configure any network device or firewall. The data exchanged between the client and the Main Server is codified as URL strings to be sent in HTTPS. These data include information such as the user login, configuration parameters or the command to be executed by the robot arm. On the other hand, the communication between the Main Server and the Tele-operation Server is done through TCP sockets and UDP streams because the computers are in the same private LAN. After the client has been connected to the Main Server and the login authentication process has been successful, a communication between the client and the teleoperation server is established over the HTTPS and TCP/UDP protocols. This communication allows the exchange of highlevel commands from the client applet to the Teleoperation Server and feedback data in the opposite direction (Figure 2).
Figure 3. Scheme of the teleoperation with real-time feedback.
The client sends a list of commands, which are previously tested in a simulation. Each command of the list is composed of a type-identifier which represents the order to be executed, the joint values associated with the command, and the times associated to the movements of each joint. It should be pointed out that the system does not perform a controlloop of the robot through the Internet (Figure 3). Only tested command lists are sent to the Tele-operation Server to be executed remotely by the robot arm, in order to get real
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movements. Finally, the HTTP protocol is also used to remote control both the PLC and the IP camera (Figure 2).
5. USER INTERFACE DESCRIPTION 5.1. The Virtual Laboratory The virtual lab developed implements a large amount of options suitable for Robotics elearning. Students will be able to learn complex robotic concepts by means of a VR environment in an easy way. This subsection describes the main features of the virtual part of the applet and all the possibilities which are implemented for the user experimentation. The appearance of the user interface is shown in Figure 4. The lower part on the left shows a 3D representation of the workspace where the robot arm is displayed. This robotic simulation has been developed using the Java 3D capabilities of Ejs and represents a complete virtual model of the real environment. On the right of its interface, there are some control display panels where users can view the time evolution of some model variables: position and speed (Pos_Speed panel), acceleration and actuator torque (Dynamics panel), transformation and Jacobian matrices (DataC panel), and the dynamic equation matrices (DataD panel). The control menu located in the upper part of the diagram allows users to save the experiments performed both in image format and in Matlab m-file format (eJournal option). This permits users to share result experiments with other users by means of the collaborative environment where the application is embedded. Finally, the upper part of the left contains several button controls that options which will be explained throughout this section. The virtual environment developed allows users to experiment with many options. Many of them are novel in a free application like this. Among them, it is worth pointing out: •
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Kinematics: users can move the robot specifying both the exact joint values (direct kinematic) and the Cartesian coordinates of the end effector (inverse kinematic). Denavit-Hartenberg systems, transformation and Jacobian matrices can be seen in the user interface. In addition, the application detects possible singularities in the robot workspace. Path Planning: users can practice and carry out movements of both joint trajectories (synchronous, asynchronous, splines and 4-3-4 polynomial trajectory) and Cartesian trajectories (line). The simulated trajectories can be stored in a command list and simulated sequentially. The user can also import and export trajectories to the software from a text file easily. Environment modelling: users can introduce specific virtual objects in the workspace to do pick-and-place operations. Dynamics: users can evaluate the torques in the actuators when the virtual robot is simulating a task. They can modify dynamic parameters such as link masses, inertias and viscous friction from the robot and realize how the dynamics change. Off-line programming: users can programme Java routines in the simulation. They can create variables, mathematical operations and order movements. The
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trajectories simulated in the routines are stored in the command list to simulate sequentially. As well as in the path planning, users can import and export programs from a text file. A complete experimental example of a virtual off-line programming routine will be shown in Section 6. Virtual Camera: users can view a virtual workspace projection of an eye-in-hand virtual camera. This option will be used to perform visual servoing applications in future developments.
Figure 4. User interface.
5.2. Remote Capabilities The application is embedded in a user-restricted environment. Authorized students can download the applet at anytime from anywhere and experiment with only the options of the virtual laboratory. Remote access to real equipment is controlled by a schedule system. Thus, users can make a reservation of the real lab specifying the experiment timetable (day and time). This action creates a new line in the User Data Base from the Main Server (Figure 3) with the user and experiment data (name, password, start and end of time of remote access). A thread process installed in the web server checks that users are in their correct timetable when they experiment with the real lab. In this way, only one user can control the robotic plant at the same time and it avoids multiple user connections. The application allows the execution of high-level tasks permitting users to interact with the real plant in a friendly and easy way. This remote experimentation is based on the high-
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level protocols HTTP and HTTPS. This way, users do not have to open any port or firewall for the teleoperation and they only need a common Internet connection. The teleoperation options implemented in the application allows the remote control not only of the robot, but also of some electronic devices of the real laboratory. They are the following: •
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Remote PLC/Camera control: authorized users can control from the applet both some PLC control parameters (switch on/off both the light and the robot controller) and the real camera projection (pan, tilt and zoom). Remote robot control: according to a schedule, users are able to execute remotely in the real robot the command list stored in the virtual simulation. As mentioned before, the path planning sent to the real robot is previously checked in the Teleoperation Server which detects the possible collisions of the robot-arm with its environments and with itself. Feedback options: the application gives the user two options for performing the feedback of a teleoperation: an online video stream and graphical updating of the 3D simulation with the current position of the real robot. Augmented Reality: the real information from the robot scenario is complemented with some virtually generated data from the virtual environment (Figure 5). Virtual projection is combined with the current state from the remote laboratory taking into account current IP camera setting and the 3D environment. This feature helps to improve user performance and provides more information to control the robot.
Figure 5. Remote experimentation using augmented reality.
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Object recognition: the Java applet contains a programming module to recognize basic objects from the IP camera images. In this way, objects from the real plant can be imported to the virtual laboratory. Figure 6 illustrates the algorithm implemented. Basically, the input image is smoothed by an operator to eliminate Gaussian noise. Afterwards, a segmentation process based on HSV colour model is applied. Each pixel from image is only labelled considering the hue and saturation values. Finally, the block “Extract Color” shows an image where only will be represented the objects with a colour specified. From this last image, the algorithm computes the position and orientation for all objects of this colour using Blob features. This allows the application to do grasping tasks by means of the teleoperation of the remote robot using the virtual laboratory.
Figure 6. Object recognition algorithm.
6. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS In order to measure the quality of this e-learning system and to be able to improve its engineering educational capabilities, authors studied some experimental results. The first one consisted in a comparison analysis between the simulated and real data of a trajectory. Secondly, some results about transmission delay time were reported.
6.1. Model Correlation The model of the simulated system implements the path planning formulation of the 4-34 polynomial trajectories, which generates a smooth robot movement. This path planning divides the robot trajectory in three parts: actuator acceleration, time of maximum actuator velocity, and actuator deceleration. This path planning, which is implemented in the model, is the same that the real robot uses. Obtaining a valid model means obtaining a high degree of correlation between the simulated and the real data. Thus, in order to validate the path planning model, the simulated
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and real data of a trajectory were compared. The final experimental results are shown in Figure 7 where the similarity between the model and the real system can be seen.
Figure 7. Correlation between the simulated and real trajectories.
6.2. Transmission Delay Issues In many teleoperation and telerobotic systems there is an unavoidable delay in time imposed between the operator’s actions and the corresponding feedback. This problem is especially important when its value directly affects sensory feedback in the bilateral communication loop. In the case of Online Robots, like this application, communication time delay is generally not a problem. Here, the master (user interaction) and slave (robotic system) control loops are decoupled. The user performs a simulated task in the 3D virtual environment and it is sent to the slave robot arm where the real task will take place. These tasks are generally high level sequences of commands. Despite the above mentioned, authors have assessed communication delays to evaluate the quality of this educational tool. There are two important delay times to measure: • •
Connection set-up: time from when the user sends the HTTP order to connect with the robot server until he/she knows the connection state. Task time: time from when the user sends a trajectory until the first different joint value is received.
The experiment was performed with a from a PC located in the same country but physically separated by a lot of Kms of the real plant. With regard to the connection set-up, the communication delay time was around 1.246 milliseconds. In relation with the task time, the first different feedback value of a trajectory sent was received at around 2.308
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milliseconds. It is necessary to consider that the robot server simulates the list of commands previously to detect the possible collisions between the robot and itself or their environment.
7. EXPERIMENTAL EXAMPLES In this section, two experimentation examples about the powerful of the virtual and remote laboratory developed, will be shown. One of them about the off-line programming tool of the virtual environment, and the another one about the remote capabilities of the application.
7.1. Off-Line Programming Experiment Off-line-programming allows users to develop Java routines in the simulation. They can create variables, mathematical operations and objects in Java language. In addition, a Java library included in the applet provides classes and methods in order to move the virtual robot. Thus, a student can program tasks in the virtual environment using this library. For a detailed description of the available classes and methods for off-line programming, see table 2. Table 2. Classes and methods of the programming Java library Classes/Methods posJ (double[] position) posC (double[] position) moveJ (String traj, posJ p, int grasp, double time) moveC (String traj, posC p, int grasp, double time) double[] getPosObj(int number)
int getNumberObj() open() close() belt()
Description Class for define joint positions. Parameter: double array Class for define Cartesian positions. Parameter: double array Method for robot joint movements Parameters: type of trajectory, position, open/close grasp, time. Method for robot Cartesian movements Parameters: type of trajectory, position, open/close grasp, time Method for getting the position of the object Input Parameter: object number Output Parameter: array of object positions Method for getting the number of objects of the environment Input Parameter: Output Parameter: number of objects Open the grasp Parameter: Close the grasp Paramenter: Switch on the conveyor belt until an object detection Paramenter: -
The common structure that students must follow to program an off-line task is the following: •
Declaration of the positions (joint or Cartesian values) in form of double variables and arrays.
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Creation of the positions objects by means of classes posJ and posC. The parameters for these objects are the double variables and arrays initialized before. Declaration of the movement commands. Users can use the methods moveJ for joint movements or moveC for Cartesian movements. The parameters for these methods are the objects posJ and posC created before.
When a program is compiled and executed successfully, the trajectories simulated by the virtual robot are stored in the command list. This allows users to experiment remotely in the real robot with the path planning algorithm validated in the simulation. The programming experiment proposed consists of doing a pick-and-place operation of an object located in the conveyor belt. Figure 7 shows the corresponding program of this task. As mentioned before and it can be seen in this figure, there are three different parts in the program’s structure: 1) declarations of the positions; 2) creation of the objects posJ; and 3) definition of the order movements. In these last methods, users can specify the trajectory that they want to use. In the example proposed, the task is performed by means of a 4-3-4 polynomial trajectory (parameter “434” in the method moveJ), a smooth robot movement with acceleration and speed continuity. This path planning divides the robot trajectory in three parts: actuator acceleration (a fourth-order equation), time of maximum actuator velocity (a third-order equation) and actuator deceleration (a fourth-order equation too). The temporal evolution of the robot joint position during the pick-and-place experiment is shown in Figure 9. Figure 8 shows the states of the virtual robot during the execution of the pick-and-place experiment. The image sequence represents each of the joint positions programmed in the routine. Before the first position of the virtual robot, the conveyor belt is switched on to detect the object. This order correspond with the method “belt()” of the Java program.
Figure 8. Off-line-program of the pick-and-place experiment.
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The grasped object has its respective mass and inertia. However, their real values are very low. In order to realize how the dynamic changes, the object’s mass was increased to five kg. In this way, the temporal evolution of the effective torques will change when the virtual robot grasps the object. As it can be seen in the image sequence, the virtual robot transports the object in the trajectories 3, 4 and 5. Figure 9 shows how the robot’s dynamics changes during this time. The robot torques increase considerably in comparison with the rest of the path planning due to the high object’s mass and inertia.
Figure 9. States of the virtual robot during the execution of the pick-and-place experiment.
Figure 10. Continued on next page.
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Figure 10. Temporal evolution of the joint position and torques.
7.2. Remote Path Planning Experiment This subsection shows the remote execution of a path planning experiment. As mentioned in Section 4, the teleoperation is based on high level order movements over the HTTPS protocol. Thus, path planning algorithms validated in the simulation will be able to be sent for remote execution in the real plant. In order to ensure the correct use of the robot, the application applies a security system based on the following criteria: •
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The Robot Model of the virtual lab (Figure 2) checks that the trajectory simulated does not exceed the maximum velocity and acceleration allowed in the robot. The virtual environment validates that the trajectory simulated has not any singularity during its execution. The Teleoperation Server software checks that the trajectory sent to the real robot does not have any collision with other objects from the workspace or with itself. In this way, after simulating a path planning algorithm validated in the virtual lab, users are able to execute it remotely.
The experiment proposed consists of a synchronous trajectory of four seconds long. Figure 13 shows the states of the real robot together with the user interface during the execution of the path planning experiment. The right image represents the IP camera video stream, and the left image shows the graphical updating of the 3D simulation in AR mode.
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Figure 11. Remote path planning experiment using augmented reality.
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8. CONCLUSION In this chapter, the virtual and remote laboratory RobUALab.ejs, for the simulation and teleoperation of an industrial robot arm, has been presented. Our system is mainly oriented towards the training and e-learning of robotic concepts. The application has been developed using Ejs, an open-source tool designed for the creation of interactive simulations. In this way, the procedure to transform the robotic system in an interactive virtual laboratory has been easier to do than the majority of programs available. It has not been necessary to learn specific programming skills and a big investment of time has not been needed to create the application. With the virtual lab developed, students can learn robotic concepts such as direct/inverse kinematics, path planning, dynamics and programming. The user interface is very userfriendly, and the graphical simulation very realistic. The remote capabilities of the application allow users to experiment with real equipment. Remote experimentation of high level tasks based on AR encourages students to learn robotic concepts and provides them with a realistic hand-on experience. The authors of this chapter have been using RobUALab.ejs for teaching subjects on Robotics for several years in the Computer Science Engineering degree at the University of Alicante. Several statistical studies have been carried out to evaluate virtual and remote laboratories’ acceptability and its effect on learning [23]. The main results of this research studies were that, although there are a great number of students who happily accept VRL for learning and training in Robotics, many of them also preferred to have a real laboratory at the University where they could work in coordination their class-mates and have the support of a teacher. For this reason, RobUALab.ejs has been embedded in a web environment based on eMersion inside the project “AutomatL@bs”, where students can share their experiences and their results. Finally, the system presented collects a lot of interesting virtual and remote features (complete robot simulation, robot dynamics, remote power and robot control, augmented reality, etc.), which are difficult to find together in a free Java applet like this. The advanced features which contains the application only are usually available in professional or specific software tools.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Authors of this document would like to thank Pr. Sebatián Dormido from UNED University, the main manager of the “AutomatL@bs” project, Dr. Francisco Esquembre from University of Murcia, the creator of Ejs, the “Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia” of the Spanish Government for its financial support through the research projects DPI2006-27217-E and DPI2008-02647, and the University of Alicante for the Education Innovation grant program (GITE-09028-UA).
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[20] Candelas, F.A.; S.T. Puente; F. Torres; V. Segarra; J. Navarrete. Flexible system for simulating and tele-operating robots through the internet. Journal of Robotic Systems. 2005, 22, pp 157-166. [21] Christian, W. Open Source Physics: Code and Curriculum Material for Teachers, Authors, and Developers. Meeting of American Physical Society: Canada, 2004, pp 2226. [22] Dormido, R.; H. Vargas; N. Duro; S. Sanchez; S. Dormido; G. Farias; F. Esquembre. Development of a web-based control laboratory for automation technicians: The threetank system. IEEE Transactions on Education. 51, pp 33-44. [23] Candelas, F.A.; F. Torres; S.T. Puente; J. Pomares; F.G. Ortiz. Teaching and Learning Robotics with Internet Teleoperation. Second International Conference on Multimedia and ICTs in Education. (m-ICTE), 2003.
In: Developments in Higher Education Editor: Mary Lee Albertson
ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5 © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 8
PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATION IN HONG KONG David W. Chan*, Eunice L. Y. Tang, John C. K. Lee and Cecilia K. W. Chun The Chinese University of Hong Kong
ABSTRACT Self-efficacy beliefs regarding the teaching of English language in reading, writing, listening, and speaking were assessed in a sample of 55 prospective Chinese teachers who were trained to teach English as a second language in Hong Kong. These teachers reported that their sense of self-efficacy in teaching speaking and writing seemed to go together, whereas their sense of self-efficacy in teaching reading emerged as relatively distinct. Prospective teachers with teaching-practice experience did report significantly higher scores on self-efficacy in teaching speaking-writing than those without teachingpractice experience. Implications of the findings for efforts to enhance teaching performance through enhancing teaching self-efficacy are discussed. The use of information technology such as blog-based teaching portfolio is suggested to provide an avenue through which prospective teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs could be closely examined to provide insights into the changes of self-efficacy in relation to teaching effectiveness.
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This study was supported in part by a Teaching Development Grant from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to David W. Chan, Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong. E-mail:
[email protected]
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INTRODUCTION In recent years, research studies on teacher self-efficacy have generated intense interests among researchers and educators who regard teacher self-efficacy as playing an important role in improving teacher education and promoting education reform (e.g., Ashton, 1984; DeMesquita & Drake, 1994; Goddard, Hoy, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2000; Ross, 1998; Scharmann & Hampton, 1995; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). Grounded in Rotter’s (1966) concept of locus of control and Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory, teacher self-efficacy refers broadly to the teacher’s belief of his or her abilities to bring about valued outcomes of engagement and learning among students, including those who might be difficult or unmotivated (Bandura, 1977; Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, & Hoy, 1998). In general, the consistent findings that emerged from numerous research studies suggested that teacher self-efficacy has a positive impact on students’ learning outcomes, as reflected in measures of achievement (Ashton & Webb, 1986; Ross, 1992), motivation (Midgley, Feldlaufer, & Eccles, 1989), and sense of efficacy (Anderson, Greene, & Loewen, 1988), as well as on teachers’ positive classroom behaviors. Specifically, teachers with a higher sense of efficacy tend to put more efforts in teaching, have higher levels of aspiration, have better planning and organization, become more resilient in the face of setbacks, and are more willing to experiment and adopt teaching innovations to better meet the needs of their students (Allinder, 1994; Ghaith & Yaghi, 1997; Guskey, 1984, 1988; Smylie, 1988; Stein & Wang, 1988). Thus, highly efficacious teachers are likely to be more enthusiastic in teaching (Allinder, 1994; Guskey, 1984), to be more committed to teaching (Coladarci, 1992; Evans & Tribble, 1986; Trentham, Silvern, & Brogdon, 1985), and to stay in teaching (Glickman & Tamashiro, 1982). With the view that teacher self-efficacy is central in teachers’ lives, some educators have even suggested using teacher self-efficacy for summative and formative evaluations, and focusing teacher education on developing teachers’ sense of efficacy for educational improvement (see Ashton, 1984; Fritz, Miller-Heyl, Kreutzer, & MacPhee, 1995; Housego, 1992; Ramey-Gassert, Shroyer, & Staver, 1996; Ross, 1998; Scharmann & Hampton, 1995). After reviewing the development of various assessment instruments for the construct of teacher self-efficacy, Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2001) concluded that teacher self-efficacy has almost always been assessed through teacher self-reports on a variety of Likert-scale items that address a range of teaching tasks and situations, and across many aspects of teaching. With this view, teacher self-efficacy is multidimensional, and a global comprehensive teacher self-efficacy measure needs to include multiple areas of teacher functioning and responsibility at work. For example, Cherniss (1993) suggested that a comprehensive scale should cover three domains, including task (the level of the teacher’s skill in teaching, disciplining and motivating students), relations (the teacher’s ability to work harmoniously with others, particularly service recipients, colleagues and direct supervisors), and organization (the teacher’s ability to influence the social and political powers of the organization). In a similar vein, Bandura (1997) maintained that the assessment of teacher self-efficacy should cover teachers’ efficacy beliefs in their ability to teach subject matter, in maintaining classroom discipline to foster an environment conducive to learning, in using resources, and in supporting parental efforts to help their children learn.
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Alternatively, it is also widely acknowledged that teachers do not generally feel equally efficacious in all teaching situations, and their efficacy beliefs could be task-specific and context-specific. Consequently, some researchers have advocated assessing teacher selfefficacy using subject-matter specific (e.g., mathematics and science) scales (see RameyGassert et al., 1996; Scharmann & Hampton, 1995). This subject-matter specificity in assessing teacher self-efficacy is relevant in Hong Kong where teachers are generally assigned to somewhat different teaching tasks and responsibilities based on their teaching in different subjects called Key Learning Areas in secondary schools, or on their teaching in languages (English or Chinese) or mathematics in primary schools where zhuan ke zhuan jiao (specific subjects taught by specific subject teachers) is the stated policy. Of particular relevance are the assessment of self-efficacy beliefs of English language teachers who are in great demand in teaching English in mainstream primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong (Education Commission, 1995). In Hong Kong, English is taught as a foreign language, and is one of the required courses in the common secondary school curriculum. Graduation with a secondary school diploma requires a pass grade in English language in the secondary school public examination, and a pass grade in English language is also a requirement for admission to all local universities. The orientation towards communicative language teaching was introduced into Hong Kong schools in the 1980s, making communicative competence the goal of language teaching. Thus, Hong Kong students in primary and secondary schools are expected to acquire the communicative competence that enables them to use English as a vehicle of communication. With this aim, the implication for teacher education in English language teaching is a shift from teaching grammar rules to a focus on using English in different contexts and for different purposes. Ideally, grammar is taught in context so that students use English as a tool to create meaningful messages. However, the communicative approach could be somewhat compromised in the reality of English language classrooms especially in secondary schools where the prescribed syllabus and public examinations inevitably take precedence (see Sze, 1992). Nonetheless, English language teachers have to possess the proficiency of the language in order to teach it, and the pedagogic skills to teach it well. Basically, they should have the ability in reading, writing, listening, and speaking English, and the abilities to model these skills and teach them to students. From this perspective, language proficiency and pedagogic competence should be major concerns in the teacher education program to train prospective teachers to become English language teachers. Indeed, these same professional knowledge and skills have been specified in the Frameworks of Professional Development for English Language Teachers by the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR), the government’s advisory committee on language education, for accreditation and training purposes by the Education and Manpower Bureau in Hong Kong. Recently, with the advances in information technology and the widespread use of the internet, teacher education programs have generally moved to provide electronic learning environments for prospective teachers’ learning experiences and their interactions among peers. Despite voluminous research studies on teacher self-efficacy, subject-specific English language teacher self-efficacy has rarely been made the focus of research (see Chacon, 2005; Milner, 2002). With the view that English language teachers’ efficacy beliefs are related to their English proficiency and pedagogic skills, which in turn, might have an impact on student learning outcomes and teacher classroom behaviors, it was of great interest to assess teacher self-efficacy with respect to the teaching of reading, writing, listening, and speaking English
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among English language teachers. Thus, this study aimed to assess these aspects of selfefficacy in language teaching in a sample of Chinese prospective English language teachers in Hong Kong. Specifically, English language teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in the teaching of reading, writing, listening, and speaking English were assessed using a self-efficacy scale developed on the basis of the requirements for English language teaching as specified in a number of government documents, such as the English Language Education: Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide [Primary 1 – Secondary 3] (Curriculum Development Council, 2002). The dimensions underlying self-efficacy beliefs in teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking English were examined, and their relationships with prospective teachers’ academic performance as reflected in their grade point average (GPA) and teaching-practice grades were explored.
METHOD Participants Prospective English language teachers enrolled in the undergraduate teacher education program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong were solicited for voluntary participation in a larger teaching development research project of which this study was a part. Fifty-five prospective teachers (10 men and 45 women), aged between 18 and 24 (M = 21.14, SD = 1.47) accepted the invitation to participate. Fifty-one percent of them (5 men and 23 women) were year 1 or year 2 undergraduate students with no teaching-practice experience, and 49% (5 men and 22 women) were year 3 or year 4 undergraduate students with four to eight weeks of teaching-practice experience.
Procedure Participants responded in small groups to self-report scales assembled in a questionnaire. The scale relevant to this study was the Self-Efficacy Scale in English Language Teaching (SESELT) developed specifically for this study. All participants were assured that the data would be kept confidential, would be used for research purposes only, and had no bearing on the evaluation of their academic performance.
Measures Self-Efficacy Scale in English Language Teaching Sixty items were first written to reflect teachers’ beliefs on their competence in their functioning as English language teachers. Of particular relevance to this study were items that were developed to assess teachers’ efficacy beliefs in teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking English. These items were written to reflect prospective teachers’ confidence in applying and using the professional knowledge and pedagogic skills for English language teaching in Hong Kong as outlined by SCOLAR and by the English Language Education:
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Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (Curriculum Development Council, 2002), taking into consideration the findings in past studies (e.g., Belle, 2005). After pilot testing, 14 items were retained to make up SESELT used in this study. All items were written as first-person statements, and participants responded by indicating how certain they were in doing the things described using a five-point scale with 1 (can’t do at all), 3 (moderately can do), and 5 (highly certain can do).
Grade Point Average and Teaching-Practice Score Two scores related to prospective teachers’ academic performance were obtained from students’ self-reports. Students’ cumulative grade point average (GPA) was used as an index of prospective teachers’ current academic performance. Students’ grades in teaching-practice performance (for year 3 and year 4 students only) were used as an index of prospective teachers’ level of performance in classroom teaching.
RESULTS Dimensions of Self-Efficacy in English Language Teaching To explore whether the 14 items in SESELT did reflect self-efficacy beliefs in English language teaching, the item responses of the 55 prospective teachers were first intercorrelated, and the resulting 14-item correlation matrix was then subjected to an exploratory maximum likelihood factor analysis. An initial estimation yielded four factors with eigenvalues exceeding unity, and the scree plot also suggested two to four factors. Consequently, two-, three-, and four-factor solutions were estimated. The chi-square values computed to evaluate the lack of fit for these solutions were 96.52 (df = 64, p = .005), 66.55 (df = 52, p = .084), and 40.31 (df = 41, p = .501), and the corresponding estimated variance accounted for were 37.88%, 46.79%, and 53.34%, for two-, three-, and four-factor solutions, respectively. Thus, a statistically adequate solution would require a two- or three-factor solution. However, in examining the varimax-rotated two-, three-, and four-factor solutions for simple structure and interpretability, it was found that the three- and four-factor solutions yielded structures that had many salient cross-loadings or non-salient loadings, and the twofactor solution appeared to yield more distinct, meaningful, and interpretable dimensions. In this two-factor solution, three items still had salient cross-loadings or non-salient loadings, and these three items were found upon closer examination to be substantively general. Thus, it was believed that the omission of these three items would yield a simpler structure. In this connection, the two- and three-factor solutions were re-estimated with omission of the three items. The chi-square values computed to evaluate the lack of fit for the revised two-and three-factor solutions were 53.64 (df = 34, p = .017), and 33.50 (df = 25, p = .119), and the corresponding estimated variance accounted for were 41.31% and 51.84%, for two-, and three-factor solutions, respectively. The resulting varimax rotated two-factor solution again had simpler and more interpretable dimensions, and was regarded as an adequate representation of the data provided by this sample of prospective English language teachers, and is summarized in table 1.
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Items in self-efficacy in teaching Facilitate understanding of authentic texts Guide to select readings Encourage extensive reading outside classroom Guide to write diverse topics Teach to write clearly and coherently Teach listening strategies and skills Guide to select listening materials Guide to speak appropriately Teach to help engage in conversations Teach to speak clearly and coherently Teach to speak accurately
Factor 1 39 49 34 70 56 69 81
2 48 97 39 55 (31) -
Note. Only salient loadings of magnitude .30 or above are shown. Decimals on loadings are omitted.
In summary, the results of this exploratory item factor analysis indicated that 11 items written to reflect efficacy beliefs in English language teaching emerged in two relatively independent and meaningful dimensions, one covering teachers’ confidence in the teaching of speaking and writing, and another in reading. Thus, rather than emerging separately as four distinct dimensions reflecting that teachers might feel differentially efficacious in teaching reading, teaching writing, teaching listening, and teaching speaking, the evidence seemed to support that teachers’ confidence in teaching speaking and writing would go together, but the confidence in teaching reading was relatively more distinct from the teaching of language expression (speaking and writing). The confidence in teaching listening did not emerge as distinct, but was related to both dimensions of speaking-writing and reading, suggesting that self-efficacy in teaching listening always occurred as efficacy in teaching reading-related listening or speaking/writing-related listening.
Two Empirical Subscales of Self-Efficacy in English Language Teaching Based on the above item factor analyses of SESELT, and a careful examination of the item content to ensure the relevance of items to the two factors of self-efficacy in English language teaching, it was decided that the respective items loading saliently on the two factors could be aggregated to yield scores on two empirical subscales. The two empirical subscales reflect teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching speaking-writing, and in teaching reading. A total score could also be computed by summing all 11 items to yield a global score of selfefficacy in English language teaching. Table 2 shows the scale means and standard deviations of these two empirical subscales together with their measures of internal consistency. It can be seen that the coefficients alpha as indices of internal consistency of the two subscales were moderately high (.67 and .79), despite the small number of items in each subscale. The mean scores averaged across items indicated that these teachers had very similar level of confidence in teaching speaking-writing (M = 3.26, SD = 0.44) and in teaching reading (M = 3.30, SD = 0.51). For comparison, the
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global self-efficacy mean score based on all 11 items and the scale internal consistency are also shown in table 2. Table 2. Means, Standard Deviations, and Internal Consistency of Subscales of Self-Efficacy Scale in English Language Teaching (N = 55)
Specific self-efficacy in English language teaching Reading Speaking-Writing Global self-efficacy in English language teaching Reading-Writing-Listening-Speaking
Item N
M
SD
Cronbach’s α
4 7
13.22 22.82
2.03 3.09
.67 .79
11
36.04
4.26
.79
Group Differences in Self-Efficacy in English Language Teaching To explore whether there were significant differences between prospective teachers without teaching-practice experience (year 1 and year 2 students) and those with teachingpractice experience (year 3 and year 4 students) on the two dimensions of self-efficacy beliefs in English language teaching, a one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted using the two subscores as dependent variables. The results indicated that the overall status group main effect was significant, Wilks’ Λ = .88, F (2, 52) = 3.66, p = .033, partial η2 = .123. Follow-up independent-samples t-tests were conducted separately for the speaking-writing and the reading subscores. The results indicated that prospective teachers with teaching-practice experience did score significantly higher than those with no teachingpractice experience on the speaking-writing subscore, t (47) = -2.28, p = .028 with a medium effect size d = -.61, but the difference on the reading subscore did not reach statistical significance. Similar analysis using the global self-efficacy score did not yield any significant difference between the two groups of teachers. The results are summarized in table 3. Table 3. Self-Efficacy in English Language Teaching in Prospective Teachers with and without Teaching-Practice Experience (N = 55) Prospective Teachers with or without Teaching-Practice Experience No Experience With Experience (n = 28) (n = 27) English language teaching Specific self-efficacy Reading Speaking-Writing Global self-efficacy Reading-Writing-ListeningSpeaking
M
SD
M
SD
t
Effect Size d
13.36 21.93
1.73 3.53
13.07 23.74
2.34 2.26
0.51 -2.28*
0.138 -0.614
35.29
4.61
36.81
3.79
-1.34
-0.362
Note. The teaching-practice experience was four to eight weeks of classroom-teaching experience. The reported t-values were all evaluated at df = 53 except for Speaking-Writing. The t-value evaluated at df = 46.23 for Speaking-Writing was the t-value that did not assume equal variances. *p < .05.
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Teaching Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance To examine the relationships between prospective teachers’ English language teaching self-efficacy and measures on their academic performance, a correlation matrix that included the three scores on English language teaching self-efficacy (self-efficacy in teaching reading, self-efficacy in teaching speaking-writing, and global self-efficacy in teaching English), GPA, and teaching-practice grades was computed. Table 4 presents the correlation matrix of the teaching self-efficacy measures and the academic performance measures. Pairwise deletion was used for the computation, as complete data was not obtained from all participants. It can be seen from table 4 that the two measures of academic performance (GPA and teaching-practice grade) was substantially correlated, as were the correlations between pairs of teaching self-efficacy scores. It appeared that among the three English-language teaching self-efficacy scores, self-efficacy in teaching speaking-writing was most highly associated with GPA and teaching-practice scores, suggesting that prospective teachers who had high confidence in teaching language expression tended to be high academic achievers as well as students doing well in classroom teaching. Table 4. Correlations between Self-Efficacy in English Language Teaching and Measures on Academic Performance Academic Performance
TP GPA Reading SpeakingWriting Global
Teaching Self-Efficacy SpeakingReading Writing
TP
GPA
n 23 29 55
34 -13
25
55
33
49**
36**
55
11
44*
74***
90***
Note. Correlations are computed based on pairwise deletion as complete data were not obtained from all participants. TP = Teaching-Practice Score; GPA = Grade Point Average; Reading = Teaching self-efficacy in reading; Speaking-Writing = Teaching self-efficacy in speaking-writing; Global = Global teaching self-efficacy (Reading-Writing-Listening-Speaking). Teaching-practice grades were available for year 3 and year 4 students only. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001 (2-tailed).
DISCUSSION The findings in this study expanded past findings on general teacher self-efficacy and extended them to subject-specific self-efficacy in English language teaching in Chinese prospective teachers who were trained to teach English language as a second language in Hong Kong. Rather than aiming at covering comprehensively the different domains of teacher functioning of English language teachers, we chose to focus on the refined analyses of prospective teachers’ English language teaching, and examine their efficacy beliefs in teaching the basics, which is reading, writing, listening, and speaking. It was interesting to note that teachers’ sense of self-efficacy regarding the teaching of speaking and writing
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tended to go together, whereas their sense of self-efficacy in teaching reading emerged as an independent dimension. In other words, a teacher who has high confidence in teaching speaking is likely to have high confidence in teaching writing, but not necessarily in teaching reading. Similarly, the high confidence in teaching reading might not apply to the teaching of speaking-writing. It is plausible that the teaching of speaking and writing highlights the expressive aspect that might not be emphasized in the teaching of reading. The distinctness of teaching reading as compared with the teaching of speaking and writing, and whether selfefficacy in teaching listening could be less related to reading or speaking-writing are interesting areas that warrant further investigations in future studies. The present findings indicated that the teaching self-efficacy of prospective teachers with teaching-practice experience in their last two years of training did differ significantly from those without teaching-practice experience in their first two years of training, the substantial group differences being in the self-efficacy in teaching language expression. While one might interpret these differences as increases in teaching self-efficacy as prospective teachers progressed in training with acquisition of pedagogic knowledge and skills and teachingpractice experience, cautions must be exercised that the comparisons were made between teaching self-efficacy beliefs of two cohorts of prospective teachers who might differ from each other in many more different ways than academic and teaching-practice experiences. Nonetheless, the findings suggested that there could be a trend of increasing teaching selfefficacy especially in teaching language expression for prospective teachers as they progressed in the process of induction to the English language teaching profession. Future studies employing a longitudinal design might help clarify whether the developmental trend is real. On the other hand, the question remains as to why, if the improvement in self-efficacy in teaching language expression is real, that self-efficacy in teaching reading stays relatively unchanged over the duration of the teacher education program. The differential improvements in the different self-efficacy beliefs certainly warrant future investigations, and might suggest targeted areas (e.g., teaching reading) for improvement. The present findings indicated that self-efficacy in teaching language expression was highly associated with students’ GPA and teaching-practice scores, suggesting that teaching self-efficacy could reflect teaching effectiveness. Thus, efforts to enhance teaching effectiveness and teacher performance through enhancing teaching self-efficacy might not be groundless. In this regard, Bandura’s (1977) self-efficacy theory does suggest means for influencing efficacy beliefs (e.g., mastery experience, vicarious experiences, persuasion, and emotional and physiological states), and teacher educators might attempt to use these strategies to enhance self-efficacy beliefs in prospective teachers with the ultimate aim of impacting teaching effectiveness and teacher performance (see Labone, 2004). This study also provided some initial data supporting the use of SESELT as a viable measure to assess self-efficacy in English language teaching for Chinese teachers teaching English as a second language in Hong Kong. The two empirical subscales of SESELT have been demonstrated to have reasonably high reliability in terms of internal consistency, and good construct validity as indicated in the results of factor analysis. Admittedly, the items were developed on the basis of the pedagogic knowledge and skills specified for English language teaching in the Hong Kong setting, with the emphasis on teaching English as a second language to Chinese students. Interests in its application outside the Hong Kong setting might require appropriate adaptations. Nonetheless, future refinements or revisions of the scale might proceed with a broader domain sampling of item content to reflect the
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specificity of the different domains of teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking. In addition, the scale has not been compared with other established measures related to English language teaching to provide evidence of convergent validity, which deserves investigations in future studies. This study certainly had many limitations. Some of these limitations have already been briefly mentioned. These included the cross-sectional nature of the data, which did not allow the accurate charting of the development of teaching self-efficacy beliefs throughout prospective teachers’ training years. Equally important was the limited sampling of item content focusing only on domains of teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking, which might result in not having covered certain domains crucial to the effectiveness in the teaching of English as a second language. Apart from these two limitations, one other obvious limitation was the small sample size of prospective teachers in this study. However, considering that the population of prospective English language teachers in the training program was 80, our response rate of about 70% was a reasonably acceptable rate. Nonetheless, the findings based on the small sample size in this study highlighted the need for replication with larger samples of prospective teachers in future studies. Perhaps, the major challenge for teacher educators is to move beyond assessment of English language teaching self-efficacy and use self-efficacy beliefs to improve teacher education in English language teaching. To meet this challenge, one might have to identify teacher education practices that lead to changes in prospective teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, which in turn support meaningful changes in actual teaching. Thus, the call for qualitative studies to deepen and broaden our understanding of teacher self-efficacy in general and English language teaching self-efficacy in particular should be carefully and seriously considered (see Tschannen-Mora et al., 1998). To address the need for such studies, some researchers have suggested the consideration of involving teacher observations and interviews, contextual data, and teacher narratives (see Henson, 2001, 2002; Labone, 2004). Indeed, qualitative data and the narratives of prospective teachers, who have to confront the task of acquiring pedagogic knowledge and skills, and reflect on their teaching-practice experience in their induction to the teaching profession would provide rich sources of data for analysis. In this connection, we have recently set up an electronic learning environment for blog-based teaching portfolio for prospective English language teachers in our teacher education program. It is believed that blogging allows prospective teachers to engage in collaborative learning, information sharing, feedback, reflection, and building a local and global learning community without time or spatial boundaries (see Zeichner & Liston, 1996). More importantly, through blogging, prospective teachers could record their critical thinking, give voice to their ideas and beliefs with a sense of ownership, and participate actively as they are empowered in personal learning (Perschbach, 2006). Thus, it is suggested that the use of blog-based teaching portfolio could be an avenue through which changes in prospective teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs could be closely examined, thus providing further insight into research on teacher self-efficacy and specifically on self-efficacy in English language teaching.
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REFERENCES Allinder, R. M. (1994). The relationship between efficacy and the instructional practices of special education teachers and consultants. Teacher Education and Special Education, 17, 86-95. Anderson, R., Greene, M., & Loewen, P. (1988). Relationships among teachers’ and students’ thinking skills, sense of efficacy, and student achievement. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 34, 148-165. Ashton, P. (1984). Teacher efficacy: A motivational paradigm for effective teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 35(5), 28-32. Ashton, P. T., & Webb, R. B. (1986). Making a difference: Teachers’ sense of efficacy and student achievement. New York: Longman. Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215. Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company. Belle, T. (2005). Behaviors and attitudes of effective foreign language teachers: Results of a questionnaire study. Foreign Language Annals, 38, 259-270. Chacon, C. T. (2005). Teachers’ perceived efficacy among English as a foreign language teachers in idle schools in Venezuela. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 257-272. Cherniss, C. (1993). Role of professional self-efficacy in the etiology and amelioration of burnout. In W. B. Schaufeli, C. Maslach, & T. Marek (Eds.), Professional burnout (pp. 135-150). Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis. Coladarci, T. (1992). Teachers’ sense of efficacy and commitment to teaching. Journal of Experimental Education, 60, 323-337. Curriculum Development Council. (2002). English language education: Key learning area curriculum guide (primary 1 – secondary 3). Hong Kong: Hong Kong SAR Government. DeMesquita, P. B., & Drake, J. C. (1994). Educational reform and the self-efficacy beliefs of teachers implementing nongraded primary school programs. Teaching and Teacher Education, 10, 291-302. Education Commission. (1995). Education Commission Report No. 6. Hong Kong: Government Printer. Evans, E. D., & Tribble, M. (1986). Perceived teaching problems, self-efficacy and commitment to teaching among preservice teachers. Journal of Educational Research, 80, 81-85. Fritz, J. J., Miller-Heyl, J., Kreutzer, J. C., & MacPhee, D. (1995). Fostering personal teaching efficacy through staff development and classroom activities. The Journal of Educational Research, 88, 200-208. Ghaith, G., & Yaghi, M. (1997). Relationships among experience, teacher efficacy and attitudes toward the implementation of instructional innovation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13, 451-458.
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Glickman, C., & Tamashiro, R. (1982). A comparison of first-year, fifth-year, and former teachers on efficacy, ego development, and problem solving. Psychology in Schools, 19, 558-562. Goddard, R. D., Hoy, W. K., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2000). Collective teacher efficacy: Its meaning, measure, and impact on academic achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 37, 479-507. Guskey, T. R. (1984). The influence of change in instructional effectiveness upon the affective characteristics of teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 21, 245259. Guskey, T. R. (1988). Teacher efficacy, self-concept, and attitudes toward the implementation of instructional innovation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 4, 63-69. Henson, R. K. (2001). The effects of participation in teacher research on teacher efficacy. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 819-836. Henson, R. K. (2002). From adolescent angst to adulthood: Substantive implications and measurement dilemmas in the development of teacher efficacy research. Educational Psychologist, 37(3), 137-135. Housego, B. (1992). Monitoring student teachers’ feelings of preparedness to teach and teacher efficacy in a new elementary teacher education program. Journal of Education for Teaching, 18, 259-272. Labone, E. (2004). Teacher efficacy: Maturing the construct through research in alternative paradigms. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20, 341-359. Midgley, C., Feldlaufer, H., & Eccles, J. (1989). Change in teacher efficacy and student selfand task-related beliefs in mathematics during the transition to junior high school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 247-258. Milner, H. R. (2002). A case study of an experienced English teacher’s self-efficacy and persistence through “crisis” situations: Theoretical and practical considerations. The High School Journal, 86, 28-35. Perschbach, J. W. (2006). Blogging: An inquiry into the efficacy of a Web-based technology for student reflection in community college computer science programs. Dissertation Abstracts International, 67 (01), 0156A. Ramey-Gassert, L., Shroyer, M. G., & Staver, J. R. (1996). A qualitative study of the factors influencing science teaching self-efficacy of elementary level teachers. Science Education, 80, 283-315. Ross, J. A. (1992). Teacher efficacy and the effect of coaching on student achievement. Canadian Journal of Education, 17, 51-65. Ross, J. A. (1998). The antecedents and consequences of teacher efficacy. In J. Brophy (Ed.), Advances in research on teaching, Vol. 7 (pp. 49-73). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs, 80, 1-28. Scharmann, L. C., & Hampton, C. M. O. (1995). Cooperative learning and preservice elementary teacher science self-efficacy. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 6(3), 125-133. Smylie, M. A. (1988). The enhancement function of staff development: Organizational and psychological antecedents to individual teacher change. American Educational Research Journal, 25, 1-30.
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Stein, M. K., & Wang, M. C. (1988). Teacher development and school improvement: The process of teacher change. Teaching and Teacher Education, 4, 171-187. Sze, P. (1992). A decade of communicative language teaching in Hong Kong: where from here. Primary Education, 2 (2), 23-30. Trentham, L., Silvern, S., & Brogdon, R. (1985). Teacher efficacy and teacher competency ratings. Psychology in Schools, 22, 343-352. Tschannen-Moran, M., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2001). Teacher efficacy: Capturing an elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 783-805. Tschannen-Moran, M., Woolfolk Hoy, A., & Hoy, W. K. (1998). Teacher efficacy: Its meaning and measure. Review of Educational Research, 68, 202-248. Zeichner, K., & Liston, D. (1996). Reflective teaching: An introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Association.
In: Developments in Higher Education Editor: Mary Lee Albertson
ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5 © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 9
ANTHROPOLOGY OF EDUCATION: 30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN CHINA Qi Jinyu* School of Ethnology and Sociology, the Central University for Nationalities
ABSTRACT In this paper, the study of the past 30 years (1978 ~ 2008) in China’s education course to be sort of anthropological research, focusing on education and anthropology disciplines interdisciplinary, cross-study experience in China. This article been concerned about the development of education in the academic disciplines of anthropology source and the development history of the anthropology of education in China, combined with our local practice in the course of the problems that exist in the future, as well as the development of the topics to be explored deeper.
Keywords: anthropology of education, cross-culture, field research, cultural identity, ethnicity.
INTRODUCTION Anthropology of education, as a subject field, started from the research on minority’s education at the beginning of 1980s in China. Although there was only over 20 years history, the development of this field was extremely fast. Initial starting of anthropology of education was late in China; of course, there was close interrelationship with former social reality in China, and there was also important relationship with long-term academic tradition of our educational research and external circumstances. Quiet great development and rapid progress *
Brief introduction of the author: Qi Jinyu, male, (1970.9－), native place is Huzhu County of Qinghai, PostDoctoral Fellow of Sociology Department of Peking University, associate professor of School of Ethnology and Sociology in The Central University for Nationalities. Main research fields: educational anthropology, culture research, group self-identity, and so on. Contacting way (telephone, email): (86+10) 62762271 (H) 13439974100; E-mail:
[email protected],
[email protected].
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of anthropology of education research benefited from the reform and opening up policy at the beginning of 1980s in China, and from this period, each field of our social science research was taken into account and restored. With the recovery and reconstruction of sociology and ethnology fields, anthropology of education research got enormous development at the turn of the century. However, there were still many problems in interrelated research and subject development, it desiderated more attention and related research which can gradually perfect subject system and deepen this field, and it also needed to absorb cross-subject research method and supplement and perfection of theoretical knowledge. In this paper, the study of the past 30 years in China’s education course to be sort of anthropological research, focusing on education and anthropology disciplines interdisciplinary, cross-study experience in China. This article been combined with our local practice in the course of the problems that exist in the future, as well as the development of the topics to be explored deeper.
I. ANTHROPOLOGY OF EDUCATION: CONCEPT AND ITS DEVELOPMENT Anthropology of education, which is formed by cross with pedagogy and anthropology, is an all-around interdisciplinary subject. Anthropology of education germinated at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, formed in 1930s and 1940s, developed in 1950s and 1960s, and grew up in 1970s. “Anthropology of education”, which represented this subject name, experienced historical evolution.[1] To participate in educational decision was the foundation of anthropology of education’s development, namely, anthropology of education’s rising made scientific decision became possibility. American scholar E. L. Hewett drew anthropology into educational research at the earliest. He was deeply influenced by social evolutionism of Spencer. He studied immigrant education in American mainland, how to implement minority’s education policy and decrease failure on school work of aboriginal teenagers, “enculturation or furnace” policy between immigrants and aborigines and minorities, and so on. English anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski also criticized inheritance determinism which affirmed that intelligence of African Negro was low by intelligence quotient and racism policy. These early researchers mainly criticized that school ignored cultural background and nationality of students and considered that school education should pay sufficient attention on ethnic culture education. These tentative cross-subject researches by educators and anthropologists raised prologue of combining research with pedagogy and anthropology, and that was also the foundation of engendering anthropology of education. When anthropology of education was engendered, because of the research tropism and interest differences of researchers with different subject background, it divided into two research fields: research on pedagogy with the view of anthropology and research on anthropology with the view of pedagogy. On one hand, anthropologists took educational organization as one of main institutions with cultural transmission to study extension and evolution of humanity culture; and at the same time, theories, methods, and research results of anthropology were also used to be applied to change our education and solve actual problems. On the other hand, more and more educators also realized the importance of learning about other cultures and effect of ethnography field research method; thus, they got interested in cross-cultural comparison research of anthropology and general idea of culture. In terms of
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the research on pedagogy with the view of anthropology, anthropology of education can be understood as demonstration of pedagogy to broad anthropologic theories. Anthropology of education research with this intention, like A. Flitner stated, its target was to treat human as creature who could be educated and needed education, and its mission was “to research educational actions and scene on the level of explaining human nature”. Similarly, Bollnow and his student W. Loch also thought that anthropology of education had significance of discussing human existence to educational practice and educational phenomenon “as a whole”. In terms of the research on anthropology with the view of pedagogy, educators definitely thought that anthropology of education was not only the general theory on human, but also to effectively state pedagogy problems by using anthropologic methods in educational science field. Representatives with this viewpoint in anthropology of education were H. Roth, Nore, Langeveld, Deblav, Bollnow, and so on.[2] In 1950s, American scholar G. D. Spindler firstly started ethnography research on school education to study “how to interact and interaction among students” of education and administrators in natural situation of school and society and concretely participate in evaluation and decision. In 1954, Spindler Couple held a “Stanford Seminar” in California, invited anthropologists and educators to discuss problem of mutual benefit and interaction between anthropology and pedagogy. Four themes of seminar were: philosophical and theoretical foundation of combining research with pedagogy and anthropology; significance of social culture background in education process; relationship among each stage of life defined by education and culture; cross-cultural understanding and learning nature.[3] John Uzo Ogbu (1939—2003), a senior anthropologic professor in University of California at Berkeley, was the most influential anthropologist of education in the USA and even the whole world. His research involved minority’s status and school education, minority group, culture and self-identity, anthropology of education, research methods and theories of anthropology of education, urban anthropology, and so on. His theoretic framework of explaining expressional variety of minority students in school was one of orthodox subjects of anthropology of education. He had many writings, which were extensively used in educational field and anthropologic field, and they were extremely influential.
II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY OF EDUCATION IN CHINA Our nation’s research on anthropology of education was started in the mid of 1980s. The origin of it was some correlative concept which was mentioned by some scholars. The earliest book on introduction of the knowledge background of anthropology of education was “Anthropology of Education” written by Taiwan scholar Zhan Dongliang (1986), after that, there were some correlative researches and works published. Such situation also led scholars of mainland of China to commentate and introduce the subject knowledge of anthropology of education, and the main translation works included: “The Social and Cultural Opinion on Practical Anthropology and Education” (Singalton, USA), “Humans Are the Educational Object: The Primary Exploration on Anthropology of Education” (Kang de Vulsinski, Russia, 1989), “Theory of Anthropology of Education” (Zdarzil Herbert, Austria, 2001), and so on.
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Our country’s early researchers did a lot of work on the aspects of commenting and introducing basic knowledge of anthropology of education, such as the researchers like Feng Zengjun[4], Zhuang Kongshao[5], Li Fuxin[6], Hong Chuan[7], Li Qilong[8] etc, they made great efforts on all-roundly introducing the anthropology of education subject and the theory. Especially with the publication of the great works “Anthropology of Education” by Zhuang Kongshao (1989), “Anthropology of Education” by Feng Zengjun (1981), based on the introduction of the development of western anthropology of education, they gave prominence to the introduction of research methods, and they used these methods to primarily discuss the reality of Chinese education. However, the research on anthropology of education at that period mainly rested on the introduction of foreign anthropology of education, the definition of anthropology of education basic concept and the introduction of the correlative research methods[9], and it was lack of the correlative research achievements based on native anthropology of education, and it was far from the breakthrough of the theory. Since 1990s, because of the all-round reform and open-up, more and more academic communication has greatly influenced the domestic social science research. Under such new international and domestic situation, the research on anthropology of education has also gradually thrived, more and more scholars have devoted themselves in this newly-developing cross-subject and intersectant research area. Firstly, the course of anthropology of education was successively taught in domestic normal universities, such as professor Wu Kangning, in Nanjing Normal University, actively advocated the research on classroom sociology, research methods of using ethnography, emphasized on on-the-spot investigation and participational observation; professor Chen Xiangming, in Peking University, vigorously advocated the “qualitative research”; professor Zheng Xinrong, in Peking University, with the engagement in teaching anthropology of education, emphasized on research of female education and learned the field research method of anthropology in the project research. The great effort of those research organizations above, to a certain extend, have proved the wide spread and development of the research method and theory of anthropology of education. However, because of the great difference between educational sociology and anthropology of education in each own research objects, research methods and methodology, to a certain extend, the domestic researches on anthropology of education relatively fell behind in this period, the subject knowledge also wasn’t further widespread. So, in some way, domestic researches on anthropology of education were far behind that on educational sociology. So, no matter in terms of research on pedagogy with the view of anthropology and research on anthropology with the view of pedagogy, at present, the development of this subject was facing a quite great opportunity and challenge. Since the mid of 1990s, our country’s research of anthropology of education has made great achievement. It was found mainly in two aspects: one was that in the settlement of courses and system of teaching in universities, the course of anthropology of education and cross-cultural research have been successively settled in some universities in order to cultivate the interdisciplinary talents; and the other was that the academia gradually has increased the research on the correlative fields of anthropology of education, especially has strengthened the cross-subject and intersectant research on research methods and the correlative theory of anthropology and pedagogy. In recent years, our country’s research on anthropology of education has strengthened the communication with international research on pedagogy and anthropology, and has gradually increased to talk and communicate with international academia. It was a delightful progress.
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At the aspect of domestic research on anthropology of education, not like before, we have broken through the simple comment and instruction of some basic concept, research methods of western anthropology of education. At the aspect of the research on this field, not only connotative meaning of the research but also the extension of the research both has been expanded and extended. Such research was better established in the reality of China’s social development and education, and it emphasized the cut-in point which was from the relative and microcosmic research on individual cases, and the science and the logicality were further strengthened on such research methods which were mainly based on field study and participant observation of anthropology and combined with the educational normal formulas of educational ethnography and which were established in great effort on localizing the research on pedagogy and anthropology. The research results of this field mainly focused on discussing the following questions:
Concept Definition, Subject Character and the Discussion on “Anthropology of Education” and “Ethnic Education” The subject attribute problem, which was about the anthropology and ethnic education with Chinese characteristics, with this subject system continuously being developed and perfected, was more and more paid attention to and discussed accompanied with emphasis by more and more researchers, and in this period, the research on such field worked hard on defining the concept, connotation and extension between “ethnic education” with Chinese characteristic and “anthropology of education” with western academic background, and based on it, developed and perfected the subject system of “anthropology of education” with Chinese characteristic. Some researchers considered that the “anthropology of education” had different schools of thought. “Culture-Anthropology of Education” represented by the US and the UK emphasized the experiential research and the composing of field work and ethnography. In our country, anthropology and ethnic education had a close relation, but they were different from the research objects and methods. This kind of difference mainly had root in the difference between anthropology and ethnonymics which acted as subject matrix. And to differ from the ethnic education which used the synthesis utilizing all subject methods to research the education of national minority, our country’s anthropology of education should not only be limited to the research on national minority, but also, for the research methods, gave more attention to the utilization of the traditional anthropology methods like field work and so on.[10] The concept and definition of the “ethnic education” in our country were also greatly argued, home and abroad scholars’ opinions of definition of the concept of ethnic education were widely divided, professor Ha Jingxiong and professor Teng Xing have given induction in their work “General Theory of Ethnic Education”: “Ethnic Education”[11], “National Education”[12], “Ethnic Minority Education”, “Multiple Meaning”[13], “CrossCultural Education” etc. They advanced their own opinion based on the above five theories, it was that they identified with “ethnic education” which was nothing more than the different expressions.[14] However, quite a lot of domestic researchers considered “Ethnic Education” the same as “Ethnic Minority Education”, or they confused using one with the other in different speaking situation. Such situation was like the argument about the subject definition and the subject attribution of “Ethnology” and “Anthropology” raised by some domestic researchers. Till today, there are still various debates and disputes around the relationship
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problem and the definition between two theories, and more that, our country’s department in charging education had problem in dividing subject attribution of “Ethnology” and “Anthropology”, “Ethnology” was settled as Degree 1 course, but “Anthropology” was put under “Sociology” as its Degree 2 course. So, it’s now established that there are hesitation and great argument on the subject attribution and definition of “Ethnic Education” and “Anthropology” in home. The headstream is that domestic academia has great dispute on acknowledging the work “Ethnic”, if such problem cannot be better solved, the above dispute will still be continued. In terms of the subject character and the research object, there is still an invisible but hidden border between the “Anthropology of Education” which grows in the soil of western academic research and the “Ethnic Education” which is with a strong Chinese characteristic.
Localized Research on Anthropology of Education Fei Xiaotong is known well not only as a sociologist and an anthropologist, but also a true anthropologist of education. It’s him who brings education, as kind of cultural form, into the research field of China’s anthropology, and he gave equal value to the research theme of anthropology such as education and family, kinsfolk, ethnicity and community etc. Professor Ma Rong, aiming at our country’s actual situation of national education, developed an idea about the main frame of ethnic education of “Pluralistic Unity”.[15] He believed that professor Fei Xiaotong (1989), in analyzing the total train of thought of Chinese ethnic relations, developed the main frame of “Pattern of Pluralistic Unity” to aim at the relation between two levels that was the “same” in the political, economical and cultural entia of Chinese nation and the “different” in the group of national minority itself. When we studied the educational system of every national minority, we can comprehend and analyze according to “Pattern of Pluralistic Unity”. Professor Qian Minhui also considered that the thought of anthropology of education and the spirit of anthropology advocated by Mr. Fei Xiaotong had practical meaning to the researchers who worked on educational research. When we brought his idea of “cultural self-awareness” into the “educational self-awareness”, we began trying to reconsider our national local education, and to explore an innovatory way that is not too “returning” or “being influenced” in constructing the subject of anthropology of education.[16] The author thought that the carrying-out of the policy of multicultural education and multicultural educational courses can help eliminate the cultural prejudice and cultural discrimination in current education system to resolve the cultural differences among ethnic groups and to strengthen the understanding and confidence among them. And the policy can help develop and perfect the theory of “a harmonious society” raised by our government to eliminate the differences among ethnic groups. Also, it can help perfect the ideal framework of “Pattern of Pluralistic Unity of the Chinese Nation”. In the aspects of teaching the anthropology of education and cultivating the talents, it was mentionable that our country had a system of researching the traditional ethnic education subject. And the system, in the aspects of the research innovation and theme and research direction, has gathered extensive experience and yielded substantial results. In recent years, the teaching and research organization like The Central University of Nationalities, the Northwest Minorities Education and Development Research Centre of Northwest Normal University and the Southwest Minorities Research Centre of Southwest Normal University
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have been active in studying the ethnic education in their relevant areas and promoting and intensifying the research on our national ethnic education. From 2001 to 2002, the Ethnic Press published the first edit of the series book “Research of the Anthropology of Education” which was supervised by professor Teng Xing and was the emphasized research project of Ministry of Education’s key humanities and social science research basement—the Research Centre of Chinese National Minorities of Central University of Nationalities. The publication of this series will promote the subject development of China’s anthropology of education and the educational theory and practice in Chinese western minority areas. Moreover, Ministry of Education’s key humanities and social science research basement—Northwest Minorities Education and Development Research Centre of Northwest Normal University published the “Series of the Research on Multi-culture and Northwest Ethnic Education”, the series were published by the Ethnic Press. The series, in this globalized era, widely discussed the comparative studies, research methods, theoretical results and pattern of development etc. of multi-cultural education which had meaning to the modernization progress of our national ethnic education and discussed how to further deepen our national ethnic education research with a positive attitude to learn and absorb the excellent theoretical results of western multi-cultural education. In 2005, People’s Education Press published the book “Tutorial of Anthropology of Education” written by Feng Zengjun and Wan Minggang. This book was the first teaching material that was listed into national program by Ministry of Education, and it made some primary exploration on the subject of anthropology of education.
III. CURRENT MAIN RESEARCH TROPISM AND DEVELOPING TREND OF ANTHROPOLOGY OF EDUCATION IN CHINA Introduction of Educational Ethnography Methods and Research Progress of Localization 1930s~1950s, some anthropologists and sociologists started to use ethnography in educational research, which germinated the prototype of educational ethnography. With the flourish of qualitative research method in educational research and the birth of anthropology of education, educational ethnography was gradually formed in 1960s and 1970s and broadly used in normal education. Theoretical discussion and reflection on educational ethnography, started in 1980s, made the applied range of this research method gradually affect deeply and generated school educational ethnography. After several tens of years of development, educational ethnography has been influenced by many theoretical schools of thought, and then, it formed three types of educational ethnography: traditional education ethnography, communicating education ethnography, and critical education ethnography. In the later period of 1960s, American scholar Eddy. E, Chilcott. J, Mead. M, and Spindler started to use ethnography in the research with the unit of school, and they called this method as “education ethnography”, “ethnography technology of educational research”, and so on. Education ethnography was a borrowing of educational research from ethnographic research. Education ethnography had rudimentary characteristics and research norms of ethnography, and it also embodied subject feature of educational research. Some
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domestic researchers used ethnography method of anthropology in concrete school education and classroom teaching. Through long-term field investigation, researchers can reflect research route and the firsthand data from interaction with subjects directly, quickly, and truly, and they can complete oriented theoretical analysis. Researchers thought that application of this method could widen observing visual angle on educational phenomenon and enrich research content, especially it made contribution to excavating invisible and nonquantitive factors which hided in the back of educational phenomenon.[17] Since 1990s, our country has enlarged reform vigor in basic education field, and many researchers on teaching methodology continuously penetrated in classroom teaching of middle and primary schools, gradually changed traditional research methods by observing and analyzing classroom, interviewing and investigating teachers, and questionnaire and measure on students, walked away from the study, went into the classroom, started to form researchers group who studied classroom with the representative of young and middle-aged scholars, and appeared many research achievements on classroom teaching.[18] Through the exploration of recent years, classroom anthropology as the microcosmic ethnography has been main research method of education ethnography.
2. Multi-Cultural Education Theory and Its Research Multi-cultural education was one of contemporary international popular trends. Multicultural education started in 1960s in America and formed in 1970s. Ideal aims of multicultural education were: to improve trait and value of culture variety; to improve human rights notion and respect disparity among individuals; to improve that each person all had opportunity of choosing different life; to improve social equity and chance equalization of all mankind; to improve equalization of power distribution among different ethnic groups. It showed that people acknowledged culture variety and culture multi-choice. It was a result of actively making effort by people for keeping each cultural characteristic in the pattern of integration of world. To keep variety, to respect disparity, and to have right to participate in each social activity of all ethnic groups were major ideas of multi-culture, and they were also the theoretical foundation of engendering and developing multi-cultural education. Since the later period of 1990s, domestic researchers have placed more extra emphasis on connecting multi-cultural educational theory with educational reform and teaching reform in school and applied themselves to possibly embody multi-cultural educational concept in our curriculum and teaching reform. There were researchers thought that main target of western multi-cultural curriculum and teaching was to change current curriculum and teaching with the centre of mainstream culture to be the multi-cultural education which could contain different ethnic groups’ culture. Emphasis on curriculum reform was how to eliminate bias and discrimination in curriculum materials and reflect main strategies of multi-cultural teaching in teaching field and these two aspects finally served for constructing effective model of multi-cultural curriculum and teaching.[19]
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3. Research on Culture and Personality If we wanted to understand continuance, effective transmission, and persistence and reform of cultural tradition in a social system, we should inevitably come down to the research on culture and personality. Research on culture and personality became the emphasis in our pedagogy group and anthropology group in recent years, and it also became a rising research viewpoint and a research field which was paid stressing attention on in localization research of anthropology of education. Research results of this field mainly focused on these problems: how to effectively transmit cultural tradition by education; correlative research between special educational mode and children’s personality form; cultural mentality factors of forming abnormal behaviors; research on cultural transmission and cultural vicissitude; and so on. In concrete idea, some researchers emphasized on understanding children from mutual effect between cultural environment and individual, fully paid attention to the influence of culture-ecology on children’s growth and relationship between culture and children’s body development, initiated to observe educational equity problem from these two aspects: concrete cultural background and individual selectivity adaptation, and claimed the “ecologization ” of research methods.[20]
4. Research on Cultural Transmission and Bilingual Education in Multinational State Our state was a multinational state. No matter in terms of multinational state history or reality, we would inevitably face the mutual adaptation problem between historical culture tradition transmission and social changes of each minority or ethnicity, thereinto, a knotty problem was that research on cultural transmission and bilingual education became the emphasis of academic group in recent years. At present, Chinese located mainstream status in lingual culture of China which was a multinational state; and it also supplied a lingual tool which can be used together in maintaining country unification and guaranteeing mutual communication among each nationality in education, culture, economy, politics, and each field in society. However, other 55 minorities kept their respective language and character more or less in different level. In terms of nationalities’ equality, because national language or character even was one of effective supporters of national culture tradition transmission and minorities also had the right of keeping, transmitting, or using their own language and character, correlative research on this aspect became the hotspot of cross-subject and intersectant research in linguistics, pedagogy, and anthropology. To see from the research results in recent years in our country, the research subject mainly involved the following aspects: 1
The research on the applicability of the bilingual teaching of national minority. The research on bilingual education has received great interest abroad, and the research results also have included a number of concepts of bilingual education. The academia in and abroad has different points of view to this, and the concept of bilingual education also has widened and narrowed meanings. The widened meaning of bilingual education means the educational system that uses two languages to teach and the learning and using the language of different ethnic groups and countries both
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2
can be called bilingual education. The narrowed bilingual education particularly means the educational system of using native language and main language (language can be used by all ethnic groups) to teach national minority students in a multinational country, our scholars usually call it “the bilingual education of national minority”. We can conclude that the bilingual education of national minority is a familiar form of bilingual education, and it’s a bilingual educational form that is particularly oriented to minority students. In a multinational and unified country like China, the education of national minority under the multicultural situation is an important problem which is paid great attention to in the subject of educational sociology, and the bilingual education of national minority is the key problem to Chinese education for minorities. To see from the domestic research situation, people used to discuss the teaching and learning problems of bilingual education from the views of pedagogy, psychology, linguistics and anthropology. Although these researches and discussion mentioned all kinds of problems of bilingual education and revealed the history and the reality, the theory and the practice, the reality and the future of bilingual education; in general, the domestic research on these problems is still in the early stage of exploration. In a multinational country like China, 56 ethnic groups use more than 80 languages. The rough situation is that: 3 ethnic groups (the Han, the Hui, the Man) use Chinese language, the other 53 ethnic groups mostly use national languages. 12 ethnic groups (the Mongolian, the Tibetan, the Uygur, the Kazakh, the Khalkhas, the Korean, the Yi, the Dai, the Lahu, the Kachin, the Xibe, the Russian) have their own national languages. In addition, the Dai has 4 kinds of Dai languages; the Lisu and the Wa use alphabetic writing; the Zhuang, the Bai, and the Yao use block words. The above 21 ethnic groups use 24 kinds of languages and characters. Many ethnic groups like the Uygur, the Mongolian, the Korean, the Dai, and the Kachin use Chinese language and their own national languages to teach in the school education and establish a system of “National-Chinese” bilingual education. Many experts and scholars of this research field have devoted themselves in researching National-Chinese bilingual education, and have made great achievement in the study of such field.[21] Xinjiang is an important autonomous region in northwest of China, and the development of local ethnic education also has been highly concerned by government and academia. Professor Ma Rong tried to rationalize the basic pattern and developmental process history by collating the correlative statistical data and the research works, and he started discussing the concrete problems which emerged in the development and practice of bilingual education in Nanjiang dominated area of Uygur nationality by utilizing the information that he got in the field survey in Kashkar area of Nanjiang in 2007. He thought that there were still a lot to discuss and a lot to solve in how to improve and develop the bilingual education in Xinjiang. For instance, the regional difference in different areas in Xinjiang is huge, and it can be considered that if the different patterns of bilingual education in each area could be adopted. Nanjiang is the very special area where the population density is low and the ratio of national minority is high. The Xinjiang Educational Department regarded the three regions as a special area, and it particularly made the plan of educational development. This is very necessary and reflects the realistic spirit. And in some Chinese schools in the dominated area of national minority in Xinjiang, could the course of Uighur be
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settled for some Han students and the ethnic students who Chinese were tested, this is quite good for the employment and development in local area of both above students. Moreover, many poor counties in Xinjiang couldn’t supply the funds support to bilingual education by themselves. To carry out all the work, the financial support of central and autonomous region governments is needed.[22] The bilingual education and research of cultural identity. The national identity has great meaning to the multinational country, the situation of national identity can not only influence the psychological health of individuals and the development of the personality, but also influence the stability of the area even the country. Any sovereignty hopes that its own national members can identify their national culture and the mainstream culture as well and they can do the same to their own nationalities and the country. In recent years, the domestic academia has attached importance to the problems those are the national relationship, the cultural identity, and the bilingual education in a multinational country. The research on national identity has important revelation to our country’s ethnic education. And the research on this field has set off a new wave of research and got some primary research achievements.[23]
IV. CONCLUSION During the recent 30 years, our country’s subject of anthropology of education was started from the introduction of the early subject basic knowledge, concept and research methods, and then, it faced the urgent situation that is how to combine the theory with the reality of economic, social, and educational development, that is the problem of the localization and sinicization of anthropology of education. The domestic teaching and study of anthropology of education has yielded substantial results and made some gratifying achievements, but there are still a lot of regret and problems, it shows in the following aspects: 1. It is lack of depth and width of theoretical research on either the theme and connotation of the research or the concrete extension and the practical research. 2. Research method is fallen behind and simplified in recent research. 3. The view of research problem is narrow, and the idea is lagged. 4. The theory is not so combined with practice especially the educational practice, and the research on the theory is far behind the requirement of the development of educational practice. 5. Many fields of research are blindly explored and short of scientificalness and regularity. 6. The interdisciplinary research groups are lack in number, instable and weak. 7. The teaching and the research of the correlative subject of anthropology of education are separated from each other, the relation among the subject development, theoretical research and talents development is not sorted yet. The problems above are the crux in developing our country’s subject of anthropology of education. We need to further strengthen the interdisciplinary research, and we also need the cooperation of the departments of education and scientific research to truly develop and perfect the teaching and scientific research on our country’s anthropology of education.
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Li Fuxin(1992). Differentiation and Analysis on Term of “Anthropology of Education”. Research on Education and Experiment, (4): 45-48. (in Chinese) [Austria] Zdarzil(2001). Principle on Anthropology of Education. Translated by Li Qilong. Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press, 2-5. (in Chinese) Wu Tianta i(2008). Anthropology of Education. Recorded in Anthropology by Zhao Ziming and Chen Gang. Beijing People’s University of China Press, 225. (in Chinese) Feng Zengjun(1991). Anthropology of Education. Nanjing Jiangsu Education Press. (in Chinese) Zhuang Kongshao(1989). Anthropology of Education. Ha’erbin Heilongjiang Education Press. (in Chinese) Li Fuxin(1992). Differentiation and Analysis on Term of “Anthropology of Education”. Research on Education and Experiment, (4): 45-48. (in Chinese) Hong Chuan(1987). Commentary on Anthropology of Education. Transaction of Southwest Normal University, (3): 113-117. (in Chinese) Li Qilong(1996). Commentary on Bollnow’s Thoughts of Anthropology of Education. Transaction of East China Normal University, (2): 30-39. (in Chinese) Shen Yufeng(1988). Brief Introduction of West Anthropology of Education. Comparative Education Research, (6): 25-28: Lu Ning (1991). Education and Humanity---Thought on Anthropology of Education. Transaction of Guangxi Normal University (Social Science of Philosophy Edition), (4): 30-35; Li Fuxin and Qu Baokui(2003). Anthropology of Education: Theory and Problem. Research on Education, (10): 3-13. (in Chinese) Wang Tiezhi(1996). Discussing on Concept of Ethical Education. Research on Ethical Education, (2): 3-8; Jin Zhiyuan(2000). Differentiation and Analysis on Definition and Judging Standard of Ethical Education. Transaction of Inner Mongolia Normal University, (4): 44-49; Feng Yue(2003) . Comparison Research on Subject Development of “Anthropology of Education” and “Ethical Pedagogy” in China. Transaction of Inner Mongolia Normal University, (1): 35-39; Su Rina(2005). iscussing on Subject Kind and Research Method of Anthropology of Education. Transaction of The Central University for Nationalities, (3): 25-28. (in Chinese) [Japan] The 14th Volume of Encyclopedia, Commonness Press, P583. Geng Jinsheng(1991). Discussing on Concept and Characteristics of Ethical Education. Research on Ethical Education, (2): 9-20. (in Chinese) Li Hongjie(1992). First Opinion on Research Object and System of Ethical Pedagogy, North Nationalities, (2). (in Chinese) Ha Jingxiong and Teng Xing(2001). General Theory on Ethical Pedagogy. Beijing; Educational Science Press, 2-6. (in Chinese) Ma Rong(2001). Nationalities and Social Development. Beijing: Minorities Press, 229231. (in Chinese) Qian Minhui(2007). First Exploration on Anthropology of Education Thought of Fei Xiaotong. Transaction of The Central University for Nationalities, (4): 42-47. (in Chinese)
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[18] Li Sanfu(2000). Discussing on Ethnography Study in Educational Research. Transaction of Xiangtan Normal College, (2): 107-109; Li Dexian and Yang Shuxian(2002). Ethnography Method and Classroom Research. Educational Theory and Practice, (7): 42-44; Yuan Tongkai(2004). Go into Classroom with Bamboo Fence--Ethnography Research on School Education in Tuyao. Tianjin: Tianjin People Press; Sang Guoyuan and Yu Kailian(2007). Theory and Practice of Classroom Observation Based on Ethnography Viewpoin. Educational Learned Journal of China, (7): 48-51; Fan Xiuli (2008). Discussion on Educational Ethnography Method. Transaction of Education, (3): 80-84. (in Chinese) [19] Ma Xiaomei and Li Fuxin(1993). Headstream of Educational Ethnography. Overseas Educational Research, (1): 10-14; Tao Ligang and Gao Yaoming(2004). Characteristics and Design Principle of Educational Ethnography Research. Education in Overseas Middle and Primary Schools, (8): 15-19; Wang Jian(2008). Theory and Method of Educational Ethnography Research. Research on Nationalities, (2): 12-20. (in Chinese) [20] Wang Minggang(1993). Discussion on Theory and Practice of American Multi-cultural Education. Research on Ethical Education, (1): 88-83; Yang Xiao(1999). Multi-cultural Education---New Theory on Ethical Education. Research on Ethical Education, (1): 1821; Wang Jian(2001). Brief Discussion on West Multi-cultural Curriculum and Teaching Research in Recent Years. Transaction of Northwest Normal University, (5): 50-54. (in Chinese) [21] Li Fuqiang(1996). Course on West Culture and Personality Research. Research on Guangxi Nationalities, (4): 103-110; Liu Xiaodong(1997). Culture and the Growth of Children’s Bodies. Educational Theory and Practice, (1): 1-3; Song Yi and Kong Keqin(2004). Research Summary on the Relationship between Culture and Personality. Psychological Science, (1): 147-149; Xu Lili and Shi Jing(2005). Discussion on Milter’s Contribution to Cultural Anthropology. Thought Frontline, (3): 52-59; Yang Xiulian(2006). Several Problems of the Research on Relationship between Culture and Personality. Research on Education, (12): 79-96. (in Chinese) [22] Ma Xueliang and Dai Qingxia(1984). Problems of Bilingual Research in Our Ethical Areas. Research on Nationalities, (4): 53-58; Dai Qingxia and Teng Xing(1997). Conspectus on China’s Bilingual Education of Minorities. Liaoning Minorities Press; He Junfang(1998). History and Reality of China’s Ethical Bilingual Research of Minorities. The Central University for Nationalities Press; Ma Rong (2001). Nationalities and Social Development. Minorities Press; Ha Jingxiong and Teng Xing as Editors in Chief (2001). General Theory of Ethical Pedagogy. Educational Science Press; Ding Wenlou as Editor in Chief (2002). Research and Practice on Bilingual Teaching of China’s Minority. Minorities Press; Qi Jinyu (2003). Present Situation and Developing Trend of Minorities’ Bilingual Teaching. Research on Qinghai Nationalities, (2): 101-104; Wang Jiayi and Zhou Fusheng(2005). Problems and Countermeasures of Minorities’ Bilingual Teaching---A Case of Dongxiang nationality. Transaction of Northwest Normal University, (1): 32-36. (in Chinese) [23] Ma Rong(2008). Development of Ethical Education and Practice of Bilingual Education in Xinjiang. Educational Comment of Peking University, (2): 2-41. (in Chinese) [24] Fei Xiaotong(1989). “Pattern of Pluralistic Unity of the Chinese Nation”. Transaction of Peking University, (4): 1-19; Sun Dongfang(2005). Cultural Changes and
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In: Developments in Higher Education Editor: Mary Lee Albertson
ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5 © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 10
ASSESSMENT AND ENHANCEMENT OF ORAL CARE SELF-EFFICACY Manabu Morita1, Naoki Kakudate2,3, Itsuo Chiba2 and Masamitsu Kawanami4 1
Department of Oral Health, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan 2 Division of Disease Control & Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Oral Growth & Development, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Hokkaido, Japan 3 Department of Epidemiology and Health Care Research, Graduate School of Medicine and Public Health, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan 4 Department of Periodontology and Endodontology, Division of Oral Health Science, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Hokkaido, Japan
ABSTRACT Success in achieving good periodontal health depends on whether or not periodontal disease patients can properly adhere to treatment. These patients need effective interventions to improve their adherence to oral hygiene instruction and periodontal treatment. Tentative evidence from low-quality studies indicates that psychological approaches to modifying behavior patterns can improve oral hygiene-related behavior. Accordingly, psychological models should be used in studies aimed at establishing effective interventions to improve oral health-related behavior. Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s confidence in determining, "how well they can take necessary action to producing certain results." In clinical practice, self-efficacy refers to "how certain a patient feels about their ability to take necessary action to improve the indicators and maintenance of their health." Medical clinical practice has focused on the function of self-efficacy as a factor antecedent to behavior modification, much as the symptoms of diabetes and other chronic diseases improve through enhanced self-efficacy. Based on these concepts, it is assumed that the prognosis for a patient with periodontitis can be improved by assessing, first the proficiency of their self-efficacy, subsequently providing psycho-educational instruction suitable to each patient, and ultimately promoting behavioral change for oral-care. A task-specific self-efficacy scale
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Manabu Morita, Naoki Kakudate, Itsuo Chiba et al. for self-care (SESS) for periodontal disease patients was developed. The SESS predicted improvement in self-care and the continuation of consistent and sound periodontal treatment. Self-efficacy belief is constructed from four principal sources of information, performance accomplishment, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological and affective states. ‘Performance accomplishment’ is based on an individual's personal accomplishments. ‘Vicarious experience’ is gained by observing others perform activities successfully. ‘Verbal persuasion’ refers to activities in which people are led through suggestion, to believe they can cope successfully with specific tasks. ‘Physiological and affective states’ are an individual's physiological or emotional states which influence selfefficacy judgment. Self-efficacy can be enhanced by effectively exploiting these four sources. The authors developed a periodontitis patient's education program that employs a six-step method to enhance self-efficacy for improved oral care, and then reported on its effectiveness. This chapter introduces the current study’s results concerning the application of the self-efficacy theory in periodontitis patient education, together with findings clarified by other researchers.
INTRODUCTION 1. Outcome Expectation and Efficacy Expectation People have two types of expectation when they act—’outcome expectation’ and ‘efficacy expectation’ [Bandura, 1977]. Outcome expectation is the expectation of, “a certain desirable outcome by taking an action” while efficacy expectation is the expectation of selfefficacy or, “having the ability to take an action.” Action is taken only when both types of expectations exist (figure 1). Numerous studies have shown that the latter–efficacy expectation or self-efficacy–is an especially important factor in predicting individual action and controlling subsequent emotional response. Self-efficacy is an individual’s confidence in determining, “how well they can take the actions necessary for producing certain results.” In clinical practice, self-efficacy refers to, “how certain a patient feels about their ability to take the necessary action to improve the indicators and maintenance of their health.” There are two levels of self-efficacy [Stanley & Murphy, 1997; Woodruff & Cashman, 1993; Sherer et al., 1982]; one level is general self-efficacy or self-efficacy as expressed in an individual’s general tendency, and the other level is task-specific self-efficacy related to a certain task.
Figure 1. Outcome expectation and efficacy expectation.
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2. Four Major Sources of Information Contributing to the Expectation of Personal Efficacy Self-efficacy belief is constructed from four principal sources of information, performance accomplishment, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological and affective states [Bandura, 1977; Bandura, 1978]. ’Performance accomplishment’ is based on an individual's personal accomplishments. Previous successes raise mastery expectations, while repeated failures lower them. ‘Vicarious experience’ can be gained by observing others perform activities successfully. This is often referred to as modeling, which generates expectations in observers that they can improve their own performance by learning from what they have observed. ‘Verbal persuasion’ refers to activities in which people are led, through suggestion, into believing that they can cope successfully with specific tasks. Coaching and giving evaluative feedback on performance are common types of verbal persuasion supporting the notion that one possesses certain capabilities. ‘Physiological and affective states’ are the individual's physiological and, or emotional states that influence their judgment on their self-efficacy. Self-efficacy can be improved by effectively exploiting these four sources.
3. Self-Efficacy of Patients with Medical/Dental Diseases In medical clinical practice, the focus has been placed on the function of self-efficacy as a factor antecedent to behavior modification, much as symptoms of diabetes and other chronic diseases improve through enhanced self-efficacy [Wattana et al., 2007; Smarr et al., 1997]. Smarr et al. examined the relationship between changes in self-efficacy and those in clinically relevant outcome measures for rheumatoid arthritis patients [1997]. The result showed a significant association between changes in self-efficacy and those in the selected measures of depression, pain, health status, and disease activity. They concluded that induced changes in self-efficacy following a stress-management program are significantly related to other clinically important outcome measures. There have been also several studies on self-efficacy in the dental field [McCaul et al., 1985; Stewart et al., 1997; Tedesco et al. 1991, Tedesco et al., 1992; Syrjälä et al., 2004]. These studies examined the relationship between self-efficacy and oral hygiene behavior such as tooth brushing or flossing; McCaul et al. analyzed self-efficacy of brushing and flossing in order to predict these behaviors among college students [1985]. They found that self-efficacy is significantly related to both the retrospectively reported and prospective self-monitored frequency of brushing and flossing. Tedesco et al. analyzed self-efficacy and the theory of reasoned action as associated with oral health behavior [1992], and found that linking selfefficacy variables to theory-of-reasoned-action variables significantly increased the explained variance in brushing and flossing behavior reports.
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4. Hypothesis The effectiveness of patient self-care and regular professional care in the treatment and prevention of periodontal diseases has been reported in some detail [Douglass, 2006; Kressin et al., 2003; Axelsson et al, 2004]. The ability of periodontal disease patients to adhere properly to such health-promoting actions is vital to successful prevention and treatment of periodontal diseases. Therefore, it might be expected that periodontal patients with greater self-efficacy would have better self-care behavior and adhere to dental treatment more successfully than those with lower self-efficacy do. However, no studies have been reported on this expectation. Therefore, an initial task-specific self-efficacy scale for self-care (SESS) of periodontal disease patients was developed by the authors of the current study. Next, the current study was conducted on how general self-efficacy and task-specific self-efficacy affect patients’ remaining in or dropping out of periodontal disease treatment and subsequent prevention activity. Finally, the effect of six-step patient education program to which selfefficacy theory is applied was evaluated for improved oral hygiene.
SELF-EFFICACY SCALE FOR ORAL SELF CARE 1. Establishment of the Self-Efficacy Scale for Self-Care (SESS) in Periodontal Patients Understanding patients’ attitudes toward periodontal care is essential. A task-specific SESS in periodontal disease patients was developed by the authors [Kakudate et al., 2007; Kakudate et al., 2008]. As shown in table 1, it is composed of three subscales, self-efficacy for attending dentist consultations (SE-DC, 5 items), self-efficacy for brushing the teeth (SEB, 5 items), and self-efficacy for dietary habits (SE-DH, 5 items). The answers were assigned a 5-point Likert scale for each item ranging from-1, not confident-to-5, completely confident. The SESS score for each subject was expressed as the sum of the scores assigned for 15 items, with the SESS score ranging from-15-to-75.
2. Reliability and Validity of SESS The reliability and validity of the SESS were preliminarily verified using the conventional method [Kakudate et al., 2007]. The scale had a previously estimated reliability for both internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha=0.86) and test-retest stability (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient=0.73, p < 0.001). Similarly, the internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of the three subscales SE-DC, SE-B, and SE-DH were 0.90, 0.86, and 0.76 respectively, while the test-retest stability scores according to Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient were 0.57 (p < 0.01), 0.39 (p < 0.05), and 0.53 (p < 0.01) respectively. Construct validity was also ascertained in the cross sectional study. The periodontal patients with successful maintenance therapy had a significantly higher SESS score (mean value 60.90 ± 6.64, n=60) than initial-visit patients who had yet to receive periodontal treatment (mean value 56.86 ± 7.56, n=129), (p <0.001).
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Table 1. Self-Efficacy Scale for Self-care (SESS) Self-efficacy for dentist consultations (SE-DC, 5 items) 1: I go to the dentist for treatment of periodontal disease. 2: I cooperate with my dentist and hygienist for treatment of periodontal disease. 3: I visit my dentist regularly even after treatment is completed to prevent recurrence. 4: I have regular checkups even when I am busy with work or housework. 5: I have regular checkups even when my mind is not relaxed. Self-efficacy for brushing of the teeth (SE-B, 5 items) 6: I brush my teeth as instructed. 7: I brush my teeth carefully and thoroughly. 8: I brush the border between the teeth and gums. 9: I move the toothbrush with a short, quick motion. 10: I take time to brush my teeth carefully. C. Self-efficacy for dietary habits (SE-DH, 5 items). 11: I try not to spend too much time eating. 12: I eat my meals at fixed times during the day. 13: I try to eat a well-balanced diet. 14: I try not to drink right before bed. 15: I try not to eat too many sweets. * Information for each 15 items was scored according to a 5-point Likert scale ranging from-1, not confident-to-5, completely confident. Source: [Kakudate et al., 2008] in References.
PREDICTION OF PATIENT COMPLIANCE USING THE SELF-EFFICACY SCALE Completion of periodontal treatment is of real concern to periodontal clinics. Since selfefficacy induces further healthy action, the psychological approach might be useful in daily periodontal treatment. The current study on the effect of ‘general self-efficacy’ and ‘taskspecific self-efficacy’ on patients’ remaining in and dropping out of periodontal disease treatment and prevention was conducted [Kakudate et al., 2008].
1. Subjects One-hundred-and-forty patients who visited a private dental clinic participated in the study. The subjects comprised 64 females and 76 males, 19-to-86 years old with an average age of 51.7 ± 15.7, suffering from mild-to-moderate chronic periodontitis.
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2. Study Protocol SESS scores [Kakudate et al., 2008] and general self-efficacy scale (GSES) scores [Sakano & Tohjoh, 1986] were obtained prior to periodontal treatment. Following the baseline examination for clinical parameters–probing depth, plaque index [O’Leary et al., 1972], and number of teeth present–the patients were informed of their results and diagnosis. Then they received an explanation of the causes of periodontal disease and treatment methods. After receiving subsequent periodontal treatment, subjects were classified into the three groups; Group 1) patients who remained in periodontal treatment and maintained good periodontal health, Group 2) patients who remained in periodontal treatment but could not achieve good periodontal health, and Group 3) patients who dropped out during periodontal treatment.
3. Results and Discussion Eighty-seven patients were categorized in Group 1 with good compliance and good periodontal health, 17 in Group 2 with good compliance but poor periodontal health, and 36 in Group 3 with poor compliance. The average active treatment periods for Groups 1, 2, and 3 were 141.8 ± 52.5, 156.8 ± 35.4, and 73.7 ± 35.9 days, respectively. The average ages of Group 1, 2 and 3 were 55.2 ± 14.2, 59.1 ± 10.9, and 39.7 ± 14.7, respectively. The mean age of Groups 1 and 2 were significantly higher than Group 3 (p < 0.01, non-parametric multiple comparison test). A significant correlation was also found between SESS and GSES scores with Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient=0.45, p <0.001. The clinical characteristics of the patients are shown in table 2. Older age and deeper probing depth (mean ± SD, % of sites with probing depth ≤ 6mm) were associated with Group 1 and Group 2 members who stayed in treatment, whereas these groups showed no significant association according to gender, number of teeth, or plaque index. The mean SESS and ‘self-efficacy for dentist consultations (SE-DC)’ scores were significantly higher in Groups 1 and 2 than in Group 3, so higher SESS and SE-DC scores were associated significantly with remaining in treatment. In contrast, lower scores in the two scales were related to dropping out of treatment. The longitudinal study employing a selfefficacy scale suggested for the first time that there is a significant correlation between the task-specific self-efficacy of periodontal disease and remaining in or dropping out of periodontal treatment. On the other hand, the mean GSES scores of the three groups were not significantly different, indicating that the GSES could not predict remaining in or dropping out of periodontal treatment. Self-efficacy is defined as a general set of a person’s expectations based on experience that affects their expectations of success in new situations [Sherer et al., 1982]. Thus, general self-efficacy is task-specific self-efficacy that can be generalized to other situations. According to a previous study, task-specific self-efficacy is a better predictor of performance than general self-efficacy [Stanley & Murphy 1997]. LaGuardia & Labbé also suggested that a task-specific measure of self-efficacy is a better predictor of performance in competitive sports setting than general self-efficacy is [1993]. Our results were further supported by those studies’ results.
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Table 2. Comparison of clinical and demographic characteristics of the three groups
N Gender (female/male) No. of teeth* Probing depth (mm) * % of sites with* Probing depth < 4mm Probing depth 4-6mm Probing depth > 6mm Plaque index (PCR) * PCR improvement rate (%) GSES score* SESS score* Self-efficacy for dentist consultations* Self-efficacy for brushing of the teeth* Self-efficacy for dietary habits*
Group 1a 87 39/48 24.7 ± 3.1 3.1 ± 0.9§
Group 2b 17 8/9 23.0 ± 4.5 3.3 ±1.10§
Group 3c 36 18/18 25.7 ± 2.2 2.6 ± 0.4
79.4 ± 17.2§ 18.3 ± 13.8§ 2.4 ± 4.8 50.6 ± 30.7 29.3 ± 125.2 8.8 ± 4.6 58.6 ± 7.1§
73.1 ± 16.5§ 23.9 ± 12.6§ 3.0 ± 5.6 56.5 ± 28.1 39.6 ± 19.2 8.7 ± 4.1 58.9 ± 5.1§
91.2 ± 11.1 8.2 ± 9.8 0.6 ± 1.4 47.9 ± 20.5 38.7 ± 31.9 7.8 ± 3.2 53.7 ± 7.4
20.5±2.6§
20.9 ± 2.7§
16.6±3.3
18.7±3.1
18.8 ± 2.8
18.6±2.6
18.4±3.4
19.2 ± 2.0
17.3±4.3
P-value NS† N.S‡ <0.05‡ <0.001‡ <0.001‡ N.S‡ N.S‡ N.S‡ N.S‡ <0.01‡ <0.001‡ N.S‡ N.S‡
a
Patients stayed in periodontal treatment and maintained good periodontal health Patients stayed in periodontal treatment but could not achieve good periodontal health c Patients dropped out of periodontal treatment during the treatment * Mean value ± standard deviation at the baseline examination NS = not significantly different † P values are based on χ2 test of independence, ‡ P values are based on non-parametric multiple comparison test after Kruskal-Wallis test is significant, §Significant compared to Group 3. Source: [Kakudate et al., 2008] in References. b
ENHANCEMENT OF SELF-EFFICACY FOR ORAL CARE According to a systematic review by the Cochrane collaboration, there is tentative support from low-quality studies that psychological approaches to behavior management can improve oral hygiene-related behavior [Renz et al., 2007]. Thus, psychological models should be used in studies aimed at launching effective interventions for improving oral health-related behavior. Self-efficacy can be improved by effectively using the four sources previously described. The six-step method is a systematic method that effectively helps patients to make lifestyle changes [Farquhar 1987; Albright & Farquhar 1992]. This method comprises a program for patient education in which self-efficacy theory is applied. The current study attempted to determine whether the six-step method might be useful to improving periodontal patient selfcare by enhancing oral hygiene self-efficacy before the commencement of active periodontal treatment [Kakudate et al., 2009].
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1. The Six -Step Method The six steps comprise, Step 1) identifying the problem, Step 2) creating confidence and commitment, Step 3) increasing awareness of behavior, Step 4) developing and implementing the action plan, Step 5) evaluating the plan, and Step 6) maintaining change and preventing relapse (table 3). Patients were supported appropriately for their stage. In the current study, the original six-step method [Farquhar 1987; Albright & Farquhar 1992] was modified to apply to periodontal patients. Table 3. Content of the six-step method Step 1. Identifying the problem Step 2. Creating confidence and commitment Step 3. Increasing awareness of behavior Step 4. Developing and implementing the action plan Step 5. Evaluating the plan Step 6: Maintaining change and preventing relapse
Source: [Kakudate et al., 2009] in References.
Step 1: Identifying the Problem Knowledge, belief, and barriers to self-care were clarified during person-to-person interviews. This information was obtained by asking the patient questions: 1 2 3 4
What do you do about self-care? How many times and how long do you brush? How many times do you perform inter-dental cleaning per week? When do you brush? What do you know about self-care? Have you tried to change your behavior in the past? What inhibits changing your belief, or, what are your major barriers to change?
The patient received a clear explanation of their problem, was informed on how their behavior was harmful to their health and how to modify this behavior.
Step 2: Creating Confidence and Commitment There were many patients convinced that changing their self-care behavior was not possible. Step 2 involved establishing a commitment and confidence by expanding the clinical interview to incorporate counseling that assessed a patient’s barriers to change, and then providing responses to their barriers, or counterarguments. A story about an apparently model person in a similar situation was introduced to raise patient awareness of their own assumptions. In order to confirm their intention and to promote motivation, the patient and dentist then signed a contract to begin working on a particular behavior change after the faceto-face counseling. Step 3: Increasing Behavior Awareness Step 3 lead to an increase in the patient’s awareness of their behavior patterns through self-monitoring. The subjects were asked to keep a brushing and inter-dental cleaning diary until the next consultation and to describe their feelings when brushing. The diary was used to
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determine the internal and external behavior precursors that often act as behavioral cues. The diary also helped to identify their barriers to behavioral change [Albright & Farquhar, 1992].
Step 4: Developing and Implementing the Action Plan Based on the subject’s behavior, statements in the diary about oral hygiene states and oral hygiene measures, a short-term action plan was set up consistent with the principle of gradualism. The action plan was concrete, realistic, and achievable, including for instance, ‘‘brush twice a day,’’ ‘‘brush for more than three minutes,’’ and ‘‘use dental floss once a day at night.” Patients then chose an incentive to give their self upon succeeding. Small incentives such as flowers, a beauty treatment, going to a movie, or shopping were selected. In setting a goal and an incentive, the dentist was simply supporting the patient’s decision. According to Miller and Rollnick, it is important in achieving behavior change for the patient rather than the counselor to assess behavior and present arguments for change [2002]. In the current study, patients set all their own behavioral change goals intentionally. Step 5: Evaluating the Plan— ‘Problem Solving’ and ‘Plan Correction’ The action plan was evaluated as to whether the patient achieved their behavioral goals. Success was acknowledged and supported with praise. If the subject failed, this was attributed to a failure of the plan, and a new achievable plan was set up. Step 6: Maintaining Change and Preventing Relapse Each patient had high-risk situations, that could have resulted in relapse. Unexpected long working hours, social events such as parties, traveling, and alcohol consumption often made it difficult to maintain newly acquired behaviors. It is therefore important for dentists and dental hygienists to help and encourage patients safeguard and reinforce their new behavior. As with Step 4, incentives can be effective and apply to a particular maintenance period.
2. Subjects The subjects of this study comprised 38 patients visiting a private dental clinic in Sapporo, Japan for periodontal treatment, 16 females and 22 males, 37–76 years of age with a mean age of 56.4 ±10.9 years, all of whom had mild to moderate chronic periodontitis. The subjects were randomly assigned to a control group (n=20) or intervention group (n=18). Blind randomization of the two study groups was performed by a single investigator using a random numbers table. The patients in the control group were simply given traditional oral hygiene instruction for 20 minutes by a single dental hygienist who was not associated with the current study. The subjects in the intervention group received counseling by Farquhar’s six-step method for 10 minutes after traditional oral hygiene instruction by the dental hygienist. In both groups, oral hygiene instruction–including tooth brushing instruction–was given for 20 minutes once a week and performed three times over 3 weeks. Tooth brushing instruction was based on the Bass method [Bass, 1948] and dealt with brushing pressure, moving the toothbrush correctly, and performing inter-dental cleaning using dental floss and an inter-dental brush. During this 3-week study period, patients received no active periodontal treatment.
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3. Clinical, Behavioral, and Self-Efficacy Measurements Plaque index, behavioral parameters, and self-efficacy scores were monitored as an initial baseline, and after three weeks in the final examination. Behavioral parameters, including daily tooth brushing frequency and duration, and weekly frequency performing inter-dental cleaning, were evaluated by interviewing the subjects. Self-efficacy at tooth brushing, a subscale of self-efficacy scale for self-care [Kakudate et al., 2007; Kakudate et al., 2008], was used to assess each subject’s self-efficacy.
4. Result and Discussion There was no significant difference according to gender distribution in the control group of 8 females and 12 males or the intervention group of 8 females and 10 males. Following the baseline examination, group scores did not differ significantly for mean age, number of teeth present, bleeding on periodontal probing, or probing depth. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the self-efficacy scale for all subjects, the intervention group, and the control group were 0.85, 0.86, and 0.78, respectively. Table 4 shows a comparison of the plaque index [O’Leary et al., 1972], behavioral characteristics, and self-efficacy characteristics at the initial and final instruction of the study groups. At the initial instruction, there was no difference in daily frequency between the two groups for tooth brushing and duration, or weekly frequency of inter-dental cleaning. In both groups the plaque index (p < 0.001), tooth brushing duration (control group: p < 0.01, intervention group: p < 0.001), weekly frequency of inter-dental cleaning (control: group p < 0.01, intervention group: p < 0.001), and self-efficacy score (control group: p < 0.01, intervention group: p < 0.001) improved significantly over the three visits. Daily tooth brushing frequency improved only in the intervention group (p < 0.01). At the final examination, plaque index in the intervention group was significantly lower than that in the control group using the baseline scores as covariates (ANCOVA, p < 0.01). The self-efficacy score in the intervention group was significantly higher than that in the control group (p < 0.001). Tooth brushing duration in the intervention group was significantly longer than that in the control group (p < 0.01). Weekly inter-dental cleaning frequency in the intervention group was significantly higher than that in the control group (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in daily tooth brushing frequency between the two groups. Table 5 shows the result of the multiple regression analysis carried out to test association between tooth brushing behavior after intervention and possible explanatory variables. Tooth brushing duration at the final instruction was used as a dependent variable. Age, gender, number of teeth present, and self-efficacy of tooth brushing were used as independent variables. As a result, tooth brushing duration was significantly associated with tooth brushing self-efficacy (p < 0.001). However, there was no significant association between tooth brushing duration and age, gender, or number of teeth present. The six-step method appears to have been more effective for improving tooth brushing self-efficacy than the conventional method was. The plaque index, tooth brushing duration, and weekly frequency of inter-dental cleaning improved in the intervention group compared with the group receiving traditional oral hygiene instruction. Multiple regression analysis illustrated that tooth brushing duration was significantly associated with tooth brushing self-
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efficacy. According to Bandura, self-efficacy rises first and causes behavioral change afterward [1977]. It is therefore possible that oral hygiene instruction–especially of the intervention group–first enhanced self-efficacy and then promoted behavioral change. Table 4. Comparison of plaque index, behavioral characteristics, and self-efficacy characteristics at baseline and final instruction of the study groups
Plaque index (%) Daily frequency of tooth brushing Tooth brushing duration (in minutes) Weekly frequency of inter-dental cleaning Self-efficacy of tooth brushing
Control group Baseline examination 49.78±13.35
Final examination 20.82±7.93**
Intervention group Baseline Final examination examination 56.90±15.75 15.98±8.71**, †
2.13±0.32
2.35±0.81
2.11±0.43
2.53±0.40*
3.68±1.73
4.38±1.16*
3.38±0.95
6.16±2.20**, †
0.85±1.63
3.48±3.11*
1.22±1.80
11.56±4.93**, ‡
16.55±3.14
18.90±3.04*
16.22±3.23
22.06±1.95**, ‡
* p <0.01 **p <0.001 p-values are based on Wilcoxon’s signed-rank test † p <0.01 ‡p <0.001 p-values are based on ANCOVA Source: [Kakudate et al., 2009] in References.
Table 5. Association between tooth brushing duration and other explanatory variables Variable Age Gender No. of teeth Self-efficacy of tooth brushing
Correlation coefficient (95% CI) 0.023 (-0.030, 0.080) -1.03 (-2.4, 0.32) 0.11 (-0.013, 0.23) 0.37 (0.17, 0.57)
Standardized regression coefficient
P-value
0.15
0.39
-0.25
0.13
0.35
0.078
0.55
0.00065*
2
R value=0.38 Source: [Kakudate et al., 2009] in References.
The six-step method is suitable for clinical application because it is a simple and systematic method. Stewart et al. [1991] demonstrated successful intervention by using psychologists’ social cognitive model for periodontal patients. In their study, the content of the conversation between the psychologist and the patient was significant to success. However, dentists and dental hygienists can use the six-step method successfully without being supported by specialists such as psychologists. When the six-step method is applied to clinical practice, a patient’s progress is neither static nor mono-directional, but rather cyclical. Patients can cycle through one or more of these steps a number of times, each time revising goals and behaviors and building on their experience [Albright & Farquhar, 1992]. It is also
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possible to return to the previous step by observing patient reactions—another reason why the six-step method is suitable for clinical application. However, the result should be interpreted carefully. Traditional oral hygiene instruction was carried out by a single dental hygienist in both groups, with the six-step method being instructed by a single dentist. It is generally imagined that a dentist is perceived as more trustworthy by patients is than a dental hygienist, this possibly influencing intervention outcomes positively. In addition, psychological evaluation applied only to self-efficacy in the current study, although variables such as awareness, attitudes, and intention are also aspects of social cognitive models. No psychological approach has been applied to measure these variables with respect to self-care in periodontal patients, so no variable other than selfefficacy was assessed in the current study. Furthermore, self-care behavior was assessed only by means of self-report, a method possibly inducing bias such as social desirability and thus influencing outcomes. In order to assess behavior outcomes more accurately, the observational outcomes determined by the researcher or automated recording of behaviors might be more suitable, allowing the effect of the six-step method to be analyzed more correctly by applying these objective outcomes.
CONCLUSION The key to success in maintaining periodontal health depends on whether periodontal disease patients can successfully adhere to oral hygiene instruction and periodontal treatment. An SESS might affect patients’ remaining in or dropping out of periodontal disease treatment and self-care behavior. In order to improve the self-efficacy of periodontal patients, an education program using the ‘six-step method’ improves oral care habits and actual oral hygiene.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank Dr. Masato Nagayama and Dr. Makoto Sugai, and dental staffs of Nagayama family dental clinic for all their support of conducting this survey.
REFERENCES Albright CL, Farquhar JW. Principles of behavioral change. In: Greene HM, editor. Introduction to clinical medicine. Philadelphia: BC Decker, Inc.; 1992. p.596–601. Axelsson P, Nystrom B, Lindhe J. The long-term effect of a plaque control program on tooth mortality, caries and periodontal disease in adults. Results after 30 years of maintenance. J. Clin. Periodontol. 2004; 31: 749-757. Bandura A. Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychol. Rev. 1977; 84: 191-215. Bandura A. Reflections on self-efficacy. Adv. Behav. Res. Ther. 1978; 1: 237–269.
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Bass CC. The necessary personal hygiene for prevention of caries and periodontoclasia. New Orleans Med. Surg. J. 1948; 2: 52–70. Douglass CW. Risk assessment and management of periodontal disease. J. Am. Dent. Assoc. 2006;137: 27s-32s Farquhar JW. The American way of life need not be hazardous to your health. New York City: Da Capo Press; 1987. p. 35–54. Kakudate N, Morita M, Fujisawa M, Nagayama M, Kawanami M. Development of the SelfEfficacy Scale for Self-care (SESS) among periodontal disease patients (in Japanese). J. Jpn. Soc. Periodontol. 2007; 49: 285-295. Kakudate N, Morita M, Kawanami M. Oral health care-specific self-efficacy assessment predicts patient completion of periodontal treatment: a pilot cohort study. J. Periodontol. 2008; 79: 1041-1047. Kakudate N, Morita M, Sugai M, Kawanami M. Systematic cognitive behavioral approach for oral hygiene instruction: A short-term study. Patient Educ. Couns. 2009; 74: 191-196. Kressin NR, Boehmer U, Nunn ME, Spiro A 3rd. Increased preventive practices lead to greater tooth retention. J. Dent. Res. 2003; 82: 223-227. LaGuardia R, Labbé EE. Self-efficacy and anxiety and their relationship to training and race performance. Percept. Mot. Skills. 1993; 77: 27-34. McCaul KD, Glasgow RE, Gustafson C. Predicting levels of preventive dental behaviors. J. Am. Dent. Assoc. 1985; 111: 601-605. Miller WR, Rollnick S. Motivational interviewing: preparing people to change. New York City: The Guilford Press; 2002. p. 3–29. O’Leary TJ, Drake RB, Naylor JE. The plaque control record. J. Periodontol. 1972; 43: 38. Renz A, Ide M, Newton T, Robinson PG, Smith D. Psychological interventions to improve adherence to oral hygiene instructions in adults with periodontal diseases. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 2007;18:1–17. Sakano Y, Tohjoh M. The General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES): Scale development and Validation (in Japanese). Jap. J. Behav. Ther. 1986; 12: 73-82. Sherer M, Maddux JE, Mercandante B, Prentice-Dunn S, Jacobs B, Rogers RW. The Selfefficacy Scale: Construction and validation. Psychol. Rep. 1982; 51: 663-671. Smarr KL, Parker JC, Wright GE, Stucky-Ropp RC, Buckelew SP, Hoffman RW, O'Sullivan FX, Hewett JE. The importance of enhancing self-efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Care Res. 1997; 10: 18-26. Stanley KD, Murphy MR. A comparison of general self-efficacy with self-esteem. Genet. Soc. Gen. Psychol. Monogr. 1997; 123: 81-99. Stewart JE, Jacobs-Schoen M, Padilla MR, Maeder LA, Wolfe GR, Hartz GW. The effect of a cognitive behavioral intervention on oral hygiene. J. Clin. Periodontol. 1991; 18: 219– 222. Stewart JE, Strack S, Graves P. Development of oral hygiene self-efficacy and outcome expectancy questionnaires. Community Dent. Oral Epidemiol. 1997; 25: 337-342. Syrjälä AM, Ylöstalo P, Niskanen MC, Knuuttila ML. Relation of different measures of psychological characteristics to oral health habits, diabetes adherence and related clinical variables among diabetic patients. Eur. J. Oral Sci. 2004; 112: 109-114. Tedesco LA, Keffer MA, Davis EL. Effect of a social cognitive intervention on oral health status, behavior reports, and cognitions. J. Periodontol. 1992; 63: 567-575.
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Tedesco LA, Keffer MA, Fleck-Kandath C. Self-efficacy, reasoned action, and oral health behavior reports: a social cognitive approach to compliance. J Behav Med 1991; 14: 341355. Wattana C, Srisuphan W, Pothiban L, Upchurch SL. Effects of a diabetes self-management program on glycemic control, coronary heart disease risk, and quality of life among Thai patients with type 2 diabetes. Nurs. Health Sci. 2007; 9:135-141. Woodruff SL, Cashman JF. Task, domain, and general efficacy: A reexamination of the Selfefficacy Scale. Psychol. Rep. 1993; 72: 423-432.
In: Developments in Higher Education Editor: Mary Lee Albertson
ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5 © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 11
PEER EVALUATION: STRATEGIES AND TACTICS Beatriz Peña*1, Juan A. Piñuela†1, Judith Redoli‡2 and Rafael Mompo#1 1
European University of Madrid – Laureate International Universities. Madrid. Spain 2 University of Alcala. Madrid. Spain.
ABSTRACT In recent years, those in the education field have been involved in a substantial change: We are going from teacher-centered to student-centered education, from passive to active learning. There is a great emphasis on actively involving students in the learning process, hoping that they construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences. Due to this great turn, evaluation techniques are also changing: First, we need to measure the distance students are going through, then we assess learning, and finally, we evaluate results in terms of setting criteria. The more viewpoints we have in this process, the better will be the evaluation that will result. Evaluation is also suddenly focused on involving learners in the process, mainly through peer and self evaluation. Some advantages in using learners as evaluators are clear: They are the audience for whom the teaching is intended, and they are in a good position to evaluate the impact of the teaching on their own learning. Peer evaluation is an evaluation technique where each student takes their partner's assignment and gives a critical feedback. Depending on its nature, the student may also correct grammar mistakes or problem-solving inaccuracies. Students will receive valid feedback from their peers only if teachers previously establish an evaluation criterion and structure the activity very carefully. Peers are in a great position to judge their colleagues’ work, since they have worked on the same assignment.
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[email protected] [email protected] ‡
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Beatriz Peña, Juan A. Piñuela, Judith Redoli et al. The question we now have to answer is: Are students reliable judgers? Are their reactions useful? How can we measure the effectiveness of peer evaluation?
Keywords: Active learning, Peer evaluation, Rubrics, Evaluation in e-learning.
INTRODUCTION Student-centered learning focuses on active understanding and the connection of knowledge and learning reached by the student. In these environments, students feel highly motivated since they have a real role in their own learning. The teacher is no longer the only source of information in the classroom; students are allowed to search for what they need and to discover on their own. Students are also included in the decision-making processes of the classroom, through negotiation with the teacher. An important practice in student-centered learning is that students might take part in evaluation processes, mainly through peer and self evaluation. Following Falchikov (2002), “in peer assessment, members of a class grade the work or performance of their peers using relevant criteria”. Peer evaluation is then a process whereby students from similar circumstances exercise collective judgments about the quality, importance, value and accurateness of their peers’ work. Students get to be involved in the assessment of the work of other students. Introducing ICTs in the peer evaluation process is possible by using Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) as support, a software package for producing Internet-based courses and web sites.
THEORETICAL FUNDAMENTS Some theoretical fundaments are related to the following matters: a
b
Student centered learning. Many authors coincide on an important premise: learning is understanding so there is an active process in knowledge building. Jean Piaget (1969) shows a constructivist idea of the teaching-learning process, and an individual that not only assimilates but also constructs knowledge. He also articulated mechanisms by which knowledge is internalized by students. Lev Vigotsky (1978) postulated an active learner individual that interacts in a referee environment, using all the resources and tools possible. David Ausubel (1978) outlines a significant learning, using conceptual maps of information and curriculum development. Robert Gagné (1985) considers that acquisition of a larger amount of knowledge is only possible through memory processing and other similar high functions, unique for each individual. ICT in higher education. Nowadays learning is possible and accessible for any person, place and moment thanks to the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The introduction of ICTs in education has had a great influence on the main existing learning models. Bricall (2000) remarks on the importance of
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adapting the present Universities to the changes required by society, emphasizing that ICTs allow incorporating procedures to satisfy their demands as required. Peer evaluation as an evaluating technique in learning environments. Evaluation, following Lafourcade (1977), is a milestone in the educational process whose main goal is to prove in a systematic way how we reached the foreseen results specified in the previous objectives. New evaluation techniques include the specific evaluation of competences in all the subjects taught. Continuous evaluation and assessment are valid practices to give the students feedback about their progress, qualitatively and quantitatively.
Combining the principle of involving the student in the learning process with the continuous evaluation and assessment system introduced, it is possible to use the peer evaluation technique. This practice allows the teacher to identify if the process has been followed in collaborative activities and also to review the individual performance of each of the students, all through their colleagues perception. Peer evaluation supports a social constructionist framework of education. Valero-García shows that a remarkable advantage of this technique is that it allows assessment at a reasonable cost.
PEER EVALUATION BASIS In many educational settings, there are a lot of subjects that, in order to be successfully passed, students must work on different assignments, such as papers, exercises, questionnaires, practices and others. Traditionally, these tasks were reviewed and evaluated by the teacher. This teacher centered evaluation method shows some disadvantages, such as: • •
•
•
Negative student perception: The student might perceive the teacher negatively, just as a “mark provider”. Great work volume for the teacher: In classrooms with an elevated number of attendees, the teacher must face a large number of exercises to review, sometimes becoming unmanageable. Poor and slow feedback: Due to the high volume cited, the feedback might become insufficient and not all the questions could be solved properly. Because of that, a long time could pass before students get their feedback. Low involvement of the student in the learning process.
Peer evaluation offers clear strengths: • • •
Teacher role goes from mark provider to observer, improving student perception of the figure. Students also understand their teacher better (Wolfe, 2004). Decrease of the work volume of the instructor. The amount of time that teachers spend evaluating students’ work is clearly reduced. Provides a valid and quick feedback, since the evaluation is made involving everyone in the class (Wolfe, 2004).
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Peer evaluation involves assessments provided by the students as they critique the performance of their colleagues. Students get to know the evaluation criteria, so they accept in a better way the mark given and understand the evaluation process (Bostock, 2002).
Peer evaluation is then an active learning technique that causes students to listen, think, ask questions, discuss and respond. Participants are active and interact with others.
PEER EVALUATION AND MOODLE Current society is known as the knowledge society. Nowadays we have a great amount of information and knowledge available. This information is also subject to great variability; data changes almost in real time. Then, contents are important but so are methodologies. Students might be able to find the information they are looking for and face all the changes. Moodle offers the necessary infrastructure to develop new educational techniques. Moodle is a free and open source e-learning software platform, designed to help educators create online courses with opportunities for rich interaction. A useful module for developing peer evaluation in Moodle is the “Workshop” module. A Workshop is a course peer-assessment activity with many options. Workshops allows participants to assess each other's projects, as well as exemplary projects, in a number of ways. It also coordinates the collection and distribution of these assessments.
RUBRICS IN PEER EVALUATION In order to obtain an effective peer evaluation process result, students must have a clear understanding of what they are to look for in their peers' work. The assignment, then, must include a rubric. According to Goodrich, “a rubric is a scoring tool that lists the criteria for a piece of work or 'what counts.' ". A rubric is a list of guidelines so that the students will know what to expect from each other; the framework for evaluation is defined from the very beginning. Rubrics can improve student performance since they know the evaluation criteria before they start the assignment. Knowing the targets that are needed to be reached leads them to improve the quality of their work. A rubric provides valuable feedback about the degree to which the participants involved have achieved a defined learning outcome based on that specific criteria. Rubrics also help students become more thoughtful judges of their equals’ end products and also of their own work. The quality bases are known for everyone, so they get to accept more responsibility for their work. This visual manifestation of some specific evaluation criteria is based on a variety of elements and does not reflect a single numerical score.
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Scoring rubrics may evaluate several different types of assignments. Rubrics have been used to evaluate writing samples, group activities, extended projects and oral presentations (Moskal, 2000). There are also available different types of rubrics, depending on the purpose of the evaluation we should use one or another. The main difference between analytic and holistic rubrics is the following: • •
An analytic rubric identifies and evaluates several components of a finished task. A holistic rubric assesses student work as a whole.
Holistic scoring rubrics may be preferable to analytic scoring rubrics when it is not possible to separate an evaluation into independent factors (Moskal, 2000).
HOW TO DEVELOP A RUBRIC Rubrics are becoming increasingly popular with teachers moving toward more studentcentered education. When designing a rubric, it is important to note that each rubric consists of a set of scoring criteria and point values associated with these criteria chosen. The criteria are grouped into categories in most rubrics so both the teacher and the student are able to discriminate among the categories by level of performance. The rubric provides then an "objective" external standard against which student performance may be compared. A rubric might also reflect the curriculum guide and the teaching style of the educator. Some steps to create a rubric are the following: 1. The instructor needs to define the goals or learning outcome that students are expected to achieve. To select the type of rubric is going to be used and determine how many levels of performance are needed, the teacher must first identify what he or she wants to accomplish with the evaluation. 2. The instructor will select a reasonable number of dimensions. Focusing on a limited number of dimensions helps to consider the purpose for the measurement. Performance levels can range from the possible highest to the lowest performance that can be expected from students on any given task. This number of levels depends on how concerned is the teacher about the quality of the students results. Each level has to be directly observable so the students can judge their peers. 3. Assigning of rating scales. The scores can be either quantitative (numerical) or qualitative, or even a combination of both. The scoring system must be objective, consistent and clear for those who are going to use it, that’s it, the students. 4. Obtaining feedback from the students. It is imperative that participants clearly understand how they are going to be evaluated and what represents each one of the levels chosen in relation to rating scores assigned.
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Beatriz Peña, Juan A. Piñuela, Judith Redoli et al. Involving students in the process of creating or adapting the rubric that is going to be used to score their work, will help them to understand the standards that they are being held accountable to achieve.
It is useful to describe how outstanding, average and poor examples look like. A succinct and clear description written in the column of the rubric will guide the students in the judgments. It is preferable to define each score category using descriptions over judgments about the product (Brookhart, 1999). As example, we will choose "Student's essay contains no grammatical errors" rather than "Student's essay is good", so the evaluator is not required to make a judgment, implicit in the phrase “is good”.
CASE STUDY: RUBRICS FOR HARD SKILLS PEER EVALUATION We have applied the peer evaluation rubrics to the case of hard skills peer evaluation, in a 32-student class. The assignment was to develop a technology investigation document, in groups of eight students, that is, four groups of eight. Each group should assess the other three groups. The instructions were as follows.
First Step: Read the Document and Interview the Authors Previously all students read the documentation generated by the other groups. This was the first formative action of the assessment: reading and reflecting about the other groups’ documents. Then the students were asked to have an interview (fifteen minutes) with one of the components of each of the groups under assessment. That is, each students should interview other three (45 minutes in total), and also be interviewed by the other three groups (other 45 minutes). In total, one hour and a half plus some time for exchanging partners, that is, about two hours for this activity. The interview was intended to ask questions that allow the assessment of the work, following the guidelines of a previously defined rubric. This was the second formative action of the peer-assessment: students must prepare intelligent questions based on their knowledge on the subject under assessment. When the job is done, the student uploads the results of the assessment to Moodle, using Moodle’s tool called “Assignment”. Results are not only a score, but also a justification of such scores. This was the third formative action: to be able to produce a consistent report about the proposed scoring. In order to guarantee that the student is committed to perform this first step with high quality, the teacher shall grade the individual results uploaded to Moodle. This grading is weighted 20% of the total grade of the exercise. This is also the fourth formative action: teacher’s feedback (also using the “Assignment” facilities for feedback).
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Second Step: Long Report to Each of the Assessed Classmates Back home, the student prepares a detailed report for each of the assessed classmates (three reports in this example). The report is sent by e-mail to the classmate, and both students discuss it (they can include the teacher in their e-mail discussion if they wish). Students are encouraged to give a professional assessment about their classmate’s work, since such vision is very helpful. This is the fifth formative action: produce that reflexive report that is going to be discussed and evaluated by a classmate. Then, the evaluated student grades the evaluator, and uploads the result of the evaluation to Moodle (using the “Assignment” tool). The criterion is twofold: the quality of the report, and the availability and efficacy for discussing. This grading is weighted 20% of the total grade of the exercise.
Third Step: Group Meeting to Assess the Other Groups Now the group meets and discusses to reach a consensus about the work of the other groups. Then the group produces a report for each of the groups (and proposes a grade), and uploads it to Moodle using the “Forum” tool. The assessed group might not be agreeable with the terms of the report or with the grading. If this is the case, the assessed group can defend their work against the terms of the report, through a discussion in the forum. After the discussion, the teacher can modify the grading. This is the sixth formative action: the discussion itself in which positions must be defended. Here is an example of the rubric (half points can be given). Nº 1
Objective The subject was treated with a wide vision (key matters were identified and developed)
Weight 0 30% Many key matters were not treated
1 Some key matters were not treated
2 The group has developed all key matters
2
The subject was treated rigorously (put your eye in the key matters identified in the previous point)
20%
Lack of rigor, in general
Even there is some lack of rigor, conceptual errors are not detected
3
Comprehension of key matters (that is, if such matters are well explained)
50%
Explanations are confusing and inconsistent
Some key matters were no treated with rigor. Conceptual errors can be found. In general terms, the text is not well-written, and also confusing
Texts are gently written. There is a consistent development of ideas
3 The group has developed all key matters... and also other interesting issues Maximum rigor
Very well written. Explanations are extremely consistent
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CASE STUDY: RUBRICS FOR SOFT SKILLS PEER EVALUATION This case is about assessing team members internally. In this case, three soft skills are evaluated. The members of the team are requested to upload a document that assesses their teammates to an e-learning platform (Moodle). Guidelines are provided for such assessment in the form of a rubric, like the one in the table below. Students are also asked to provide an explanation of their assessment. Then comments from the teammates are gathered and presented to each of the members of the group. The teacher also makes a comment to each student, regarding the assessment received. The assessed student does not know who the teammate that made each comment was. N 1
2
3
Objective SELFCONFIDENCE. Your workmate has behaved following his/her assigned role in the workgroup. ENTREPRENEUR. Read the article “Your behavior in the company” and assess this workmate contributions taking into account the good practices proposed in the article regarding professional behavior. SELF-LEARNING. Now, point out how your workmate is regarding his /her abilities to generate knowledge from the information that can be found in the Internet.
Weight 30%
1 Little
2 Enough
3 A lot
4 Completely
40%
Low value contributions. He/she does not really improve the global results of the workgroup
Only fair, but you can tell that his/her contribution is pretty good
He/she has accomplished his/her tasks beyond expectations.
Great value, he/she is among the ones that have contributed most to the final result.
30%
I think he/she has to improve his/her skills on that matter…
He/she has gone deeper in concrete aspects and he/she comprehends them… but he fails to give a global view of the topic.
He/she goes deeper pretty well, and gives a global vision.
He/she is really good; he/she is capable of processing a load of information, extract a global vision, and then synthesize it. After his/her intervention it is clear the topic is better understood.
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CASE STUDY: CALIBRATED PEER REVIEW (CPR) CPR is well defined by Chapman (Chapman, 2000) as an end-to-end computer-mediated learning environment that seamlessly integrates writing as a vehicle for critical thinking into a technical or content course. CPR system was developed at UCLA under a National Science Foundation grant. Although its use is free, it is a trademark of the Regents of University of California (Educase, 2009). CPR methodology is structured in four different stages, to conduct the student towards the critical thinking process. Calibrated Peer Review has been applied to a group of 68 students as a way to evaluate their performance in the practices associated with an engineering course. The main objectives are to evaluate the hard skills related to the subject and develop the necessary critical thinking needed to fully understand the ultimate reasons why things are done in a specific way. The definition of the assignment is key to success in achieving the proposed goals. So the critical tasks and features on the development of the assignments will be discussed. The assignment is structured in five different sections: • • •
•
•
Goals: describe the general high order objectives of the assignment Source material: Includes all the material needed for making the assignment. Links to additional information or specific software may be included. Instructions: Must contain some general instructions about the global procedure to get to the end of the practice; some guiding questions that help the students focus on the main tasks they have to solve and the specific areas they have to think of to come up with their own conclusions; and a writing prompt that give them some tips about the type of report they have to create. Calibrated questions: The rubric is made up of these calibrated questions. The teacher can select between style and content questions and three different answer settings. Calibrations: These are three different texts of different quality (high, medium and low). The teacher introduces them in the system with the expected answers to the calibrated questions and some feedback if necessary. The student may be required to explain his or her answer.
Lack of definition or clarity in the last three sections can lead to the failure of the process. In one hand, the guiding questions defined in the instructions section should be aligned with the questions of the rubric to avoid a disparity between what the student interprets as important questions and what are the main questions that lead to the evaluation process. On the other hand, the calibrations texts should reflect accurately the relation between each of them, the number of achieved calibrated questions and the final score. It is highly useful to give them feedback on the questions and asking the students to justify their answers as this process is key to improve their evaluating skills. The steps to accomplish an assignment are:
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Beatriz Peña, Juan A. Piñuela, Judith Redoli et al. 1. The student access the assignment before going to the laboratory. They read through the instructions and source material to get an idea of what is the work they have to develop. 2. The students work on the lab in a specific assignment during two two-hour sessions keeping in mind the guiding questions the teacher has proposed. The main objective is to work on the practice, thinking about the guiding questions proposed by the teacher and taking into account that a final report covering all the aspects described in the instructions has to be created. 3. At the end of the lab sessions, the student sends his or her assignment to the CPR system. The time period to upload the assignment finishes one week after the last lab session, so the student has time to think over the work done in the lab and write carefully his or her assignment. 4. The student has another week to go through all the evaluation process. The weight of each task in the final score is selected by the teacher. We have decided to assign 30 points to the text entry, 30 to calibrations, 30 points to the reviews and 10 points to the self-evaluation. In this way, the students are encouraged to do the evaluation process properly as it counts 70% of the final score. All the conditions to master each of the processes is selected by the teacher as well: •
•
•
First of all the student take the calibrations. To master each calibration students must answer 78% of calibrated questions correctly, and not deviate by more than 1.5 points from the rating of a calibration text. The student can take the calibration twice, but the second time he only received half of the points. Calibrations not only influence the final score in a 30%, but increase the influence a student have in the text rating of his peers. Mastering properly the calibration process ensures better understanding of the goals of the practice and helps to improve the knowledge the student has on the subject. Secondly, the student reviews three assignments from three different partners and evaluate. To master a review the student must not deviate by more than 2.5 points from the average weighted text rating of the reviewed text. His or her contribution to the average weighted text rating depends on his reviewing abilities evaluated through his score on the calibration process. In the end, the student must review himself properly. This last stage allows reflecting about the mistakes or misunderstandings regarding the practice. To master self-assessment students must not deviate by more than 1.5 points from the average rating of their text to receive full credit and not deviate by more than 2.5 points from the average rating of their text to receive half credit.
5. The student checks his final score, the ratings other peers have assigned to his text and their explanations, so he can reach his or her own conclusions about his performance and the outcomes of the assessment. Through these steps the student develops critical thinking and a deeper level of understanding of the assignment and its outcomes. In addition they achieve high -order skills (assess, compare, conclude, contrast, criticize, critique, deduce, evaluate, judge, weigh) as Bloom’s taxonomy states (Bloom, 1956).
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In addition CPR has several tools to detect inaccurate evaluations. If a student has not passed the calibration process properly, his assessments are not reliable. As a consequence, the teacher can easily obtain the list of students who have been assessed by a non reliable student and check and modify the scores obtained. In this way, the CPR system ensures the effectiveness of peer evaluation.
CONCLUSION Peer evaluation improves students’ ability to work collaboratively, and develops critical and judgment skills. It may be used to receive critical appraisals of, and feedback on, their own work. It also provides students with some insight into the criteria to be used for evaluating a given assignment. Many educators are experimenting with peer evaluation as a more complete assessment of their students. Thanks to the emergence of a new set of technological tools and with the help of the Internet, it is possible to use and offer students ways to evaluate their peers with web-based technologies. A major challenge in peer evaluation is ensuring reliability of students as judgers. Tools such as Calibrated Peer Review train students to be effective reviewers and to provide their classmates with critical and personalized feedback on assessable pieces of work. Teachers may increase the assignment load of their courses, regardless of class size, since CPR helps to avoid increasing their grading workload. The big challenges in peer evaluation are to ensure the capability of students to perform accurate assessments, and to manage big groups of students that are performing such peer evaluation. Carefully designed rubrics and information technology tools address these two main goals. Moreover, dealing with evaluation makes the students walk in the teacher’s shoes. As a consequence they become more responsible and learn to justify their judgments.
REFERENCES Ausubel, D., Novak, J., & Hanesian, H. (1978). Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View (2ª Ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Bloom, B.S., Englhart, M.D., Furst, E.J., Hill, W.H., & Krathwohl, D.R. (Eds.) (1956) Taxonomy of educational objectives, the classification of educational goals, Handbook I: cognitive domain. New York: Longmans. Bostock, S. J. (2002) Keele University Innovation Project Report, Web Support for Student Peer Review. Keele University. Bricall, J.M. (2000). Informe Universidad 2000. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from: http://www.oei.es/oeivirt/bricall.htm. Brookhart, S. M. (1999). The Art and Science of Classroom Assessment: The Missing Part of Pedagogy. Washington, DC. Calibrated Peer Review. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from: http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu/
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Calibrated Peer Review: A Writing and Critical-Thinking Instructional Tool. Retrieved March 24, 2009 from: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI5002.pdf Chapman, O. L. and M. A. Fiore (2000). Calibrated Peer Review TM, Journal of Interactive Instruction Development Winter 2000, pp11-15 Falchikov N. (2002). Learning Together; Peer Tutoring in Higher Education. (RoutledgeFalmer). Retrieved February 23, 2009, from: http://books.google.co.uk/ books?q=learning+together%2C+peer+tutoring+in+higher+education%2C+nancy+falchi kov&btnG=Search+Books&as_brr=0 Gagné, R.M. (1985). The Conditions of Learning (4th ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Goodrich, H. Understanding Rubrics. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from: http://learnweb.harvard.edu/ALPS/thinking/docs/rubricar.htm Lafourcade, P.D. (1977). Evaluación de los aprendizajes. Madrid: Cincel. Moodle. About Moodle. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from: http://docs.moodle.org Moskal, B. M. (2000). Scoring rubrics: what, when and how?. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 7(3). Retrieved February 23, 2009 from http://pareonline.net/ getvn.asp?v=7&n=3. Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York: Basic Books. (Original work published 1966) [Pages 3 to 27, 152-159, and 114-122.] Valero-García, M. Díaz de Cerio, L.M (s.f.) Autoevaluación y co-evaluación: estrategias para facilitar la evaluación continuada. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from: http://oldweb.informatica.uma.es/oa/seminarios/valero/material/autoevaluacion.pdf. Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Waypoint. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from: http://www.subjectivemetrics.com/index.cfm Wolfe, W.J. (2004) Online Student Peer Reviews. California State University
In: Developments in Higher Education Editor: Mary Lee Albertson
ISBN: 978-1-60876-113-5 © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 12
EDUCATING MEDICAL STUDENTS ABOUT PREGNANT WOMEN WITH DRUG ADDICTION DISORDERS Brittany B. Albright* and William F. Rayburn University of New Mexico; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Albuquerque, NM, USA
ABSTRACT Objective: For the past four academic years (July 2004 to June 2008), we evaluated the educational value to medical students of attending a special prenatal clinic for women seeking rehabilitation for drug addiction. This report reviews our students’ collective experience and offers recommendations for expanding their awareness about treating this select group of patients. Study Design: A total of 294 students were consecutively assigned either to attend (study group) or not to attend (control group) a weekly prenatal clinic designed specifically for women rehabilitating from substance use. Each anonymously answered a survey regarding his/her comfort levels and attitudes at the beginning and end of their third-year obstetrics and gynecology clerkship. Results: Students who attended the clinic reported that they became less judgmental and more comfortable in talking with drug and alcohol-addicted patients. In contrast, the control group saw these patients in the hospital only and became less comfortable in talking with them, less aware about prenatal management of substance use, and less aware about on-going counseling sessions. The students’ written comments led us to update a handout about drug addiction during pregnancy, create a learning experience at a drug rehabilitation residence for pregnant women, and survey graduates about the long-term value of this brief clinical practicum. Conclusion: Medical students benefited by attending a special prenatal clinic by learning about the challenges and complexities faced by pregnant women struggling with drug addiction rehabilitation. Interacting with these patients outside the hospital offers students an improved awareness about drug eradication beyond understanding the medical aspects of their pregnancy.
*
Phone: (505) 272-6372 ; E-mail:
[email protected]
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INTRODUCTION Drug addiction is prevalent among pregnant women in the United States. According to a National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2002 and 2003, 4.3% of women used illicit drugs and 4.1% reported binge alcohol use during the past month of their pregnancy.[1] Barriers to women with substance use problems not seeking adequate prenatal care include fear of losing their children, shame, depression, and denial.[2] To improve pregnancy outcomes, healthcare providers are encouraged to learn to address these patients’ fears and needs with nonjudgmental advocacy.[3] Although medical students are taught compassion and empathy in the classroom, they may see a different approach during their initial clerkship training by the resident or faculty staff.[4] Since 1989 our department has supported a clinic designed specifically for pregnant women rehabilitating from drug addiction. The team consists of a maternal fetal medicine specialist, a psychiatrist trained in addiction disorders, rehabilitative counselors, nurses, and social workers. Objectives of this brief communication are to 1) summarize the students’ reported experiences at this clinic and how it influenced their understanding of drug addiction and rehabilitation during pregnancy,[5,6] and 2) describe additional changes in this clinical experience to broaden medical students’ education about substance use in light of the special needs of this vulnerable population.
MATERIALS AND METHODS The weekly off-campus prenatal clinic hosted one student at a time, who saw four or more patients with the same maternal-fetal medicine specialist. Patients’ medical records were reviewed by the student and faculty member before they were seen. Students spent up to 30 minutes interviewing each patient regarding how her drug addiction adversely impacted her life. As time permitted, students also observed a session between a patient and one of two counselors trained specially in addictive disorders. We could not accommodate all students, so half were randomly assigned either to attend (study group) or to not attend (control group) this clinic once. Each student anonymously answered a 16-question survey, inquiring about their comfort levels and attitudes in treating pregnant women with a substance abuse problem. The survey was administered twice to all students, at the beginning and end of the 8-week obstetrics and gynecology clerkship. Statements in the survey, as described by Bland et al., related to perceptions about characteristics of people with drug addiction disorders, goals to treat (or not to treat) affected persons, and societal obligations toward these patients especially during pregnancy.[7] The students’ responses to comfort levels and attitudes were quantified using a Likert scale, ranging from a score of 1 signifying ‘strongly disagree’ to 5 signifying ‘strongly agree.’ Written impressions were strongly encouraged.
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RESULTS A total of 294 students were consecutively assigned either to attend (n = 143) or to not attend (n = 151) the clinic between July 2004 and June 2008. Results from the student survey clearly showed that student attendance at the clinic improved their abilities to talk with pregnant patients about their addiction and enhanced their awareness about the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary team approach to treating patients with substance abuse problems. Students did not report any negative impacts from the clinical experience. Students who attended the clinic were more likely to agree with the following statements about their attitudes: 1) “Substance abuse during pregnancy is a common problem in our society,” 2) “I would be able to be nonjudgmental in treating a substance-using woman,” and 3) “Nonphysician counselors can provide effective treatment for drug abusers.” In contrast, the educational experience of students who did not attend the clinic was limited to the hospital emergency room, labor and delivery unit, and maternity wards. In these environments, students learned how to address acute needs of drug addiction, and were not able to provide counseling or preventive care. For this reason, those students were less comfortable in dealing with this vulnerable population. The greatest drop in survey score was in the control group, and related to talking with patients about their substance use and its adverse effects during pregnancy. In addition, students in the control group felt less comfortable in arranging referrals to other treatment programs. Written comments by students who attended the clinic were very positive. The majority stated that it was a privilege to talk to this special group of women about their addiction and challenges. Clinic staff were extremely encouraging and helpful to the students. This experience increased students’ awareness of the unique obstetric issues faced by women with addiction disorders. While certain students expressed apprehension before attending the clinic, all felt that the teaching environment was great. Many students expressed gratitude in their written evaluation for the opportunity to interact with this socially challenging population and to encounter circumstances that are dire but very real. Students’ suggestions for change included having the opportunity to follow a patient throughout her entire clinic visit,(for counseling, methadone dosing, laboratory testing). Furthermore, they were unable to interact with patients for an extended period of time because the experience was limited to a half-day clinic. Due to written feedback from this four year evaluative process, we now incorporate a lecture about drug addiction and treatment/rehabilitation during pregnancy at the beginning of our clerkship. An updated 5-page handout is distributed as part of the lecture. Along with a description of this special prenatal clinic, the handout lists signs and symptoms of drug overdose or withdrawal, effects from substances on the developing fetus, and a gestational age-specific list of recommendations for counseling and preventive care. In addition to this clinic, our county government now appropriates funds for a special residence for six women recovering from substance use before and after delivery. To provide an additional educational opportunity to students who do not attend the outpatient clinic, we are exploring how they may instead visit with patients in this protective residential environment.
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CONCLUSION A medical student’s initial understanding about drug addiction and its treatment among pregnant patients requires their open-mindedness and tolerance.[8,9] Residents and faculty should model appropriate attitudes and approaches in dealing with substance-using patients. We chose this special clinic setting, rather than a classroom lecture format, because it included a large and diverse group of patients, focused on counseling sessions at specified times, and incorporated referrals to other resources (e.g., detoxification centers, parenting classes, career development classes, group therapy). This one–time clinical exposure allowed students to apply clinical knowledge, become comfortable in discussing sensitive and complex topics with patients, and confront personal insecurities in treating this unique population of patients. This experience favored more sympathy toward addiction and its treatment in general but not necessarily during pregnancy.5 Participation in this expanded addiction rehabilitation program allowed students to interact directly with women during their successful recovery, thereby potentially diminishing the pessimism of healthcare providers toward substance-dependent patients. Our findings support medical school curricular experiences to include addressing alcohol and other substance-dependence problems during pregnancy. Siegal et al. reported that physicians who, as medical students, were given a brief clinical practicum to alcohol reported increased rates of querying patients about their alcohol use 6-10 years later.[10] We admit any change in students’ attitudes was likely subtle from this single experience. Our next step will be to inquire whether changes from this educational opportunity will persist as students continue in their medical careers.
REFERENCES [1]
[2] [3]
[4] [5]
[6]
The NSDUH Report. Substance use during pregnancy: 2002 and 2003 update. Washington DC: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; 2005. Available from: http://www.samhsa.gov (accessed December 2008). Gehshan S. Missed opportunities for intervening in the lives of pregnant women addicted to alcohol or other drugs. J. Am. Med. Womens Assoc. 1995; 50:160-163. Paltrow LM. Punishing women for their behavior during pregnancy: An approach that undermines the health of women and children. Printed from the NIDA website, a subsidiary of NIH. Available from http://www.drugabuse.gov/PDF/DARHW/467502_Paltrow.pdf (accessed December 2008). Isaacson JH, Fleming M, Kraus M, Kahn R, Mundt M. A national survey of training in substance use disorders in residency programs. J. Stud. Alcohol. 2000; 61:912-916. Ramirez-Cacho WA, Strickland L, Beraun C, Meng C, Rayburn WF. Medical students’ attitudes toward pregnant women with substance use disorders. Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 2007; 196:86e1-e5. Meng C, Rayburn B, Ramirez-Cacho WA, Rayburn WF. Effect of a specialized prenatal clinic on medical students’ attitudes toward women with drinking problems. J. Mat. Fetal. Neonatal Med. 2007; 20:217-20.
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Bland E, Oppenheimer L, Brisson-Carroll G, Morel C, Holmes P, Grislin A. Influence of an educational program on medical students’ attitudes to substance use disorders in pregnancy. Am. J. Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2001; 27:483-490. [8] Miller NS, Sheppard LM, Colenda CC, Magen J. Why physicians are unprepared to treat patients who have alcohol- and drug-related disorders. Acad. Med. 2001; 76:410418. [9] Abel EL, Kruger M. Physician attitudes concerning legal coercion of pregnant alcohol and drug abusers. Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 2002; 186:768-772. [10] Siegal HA, Cole PA, Li L, Eddy MF. Can a brief clinical practicum influence physicians’ communications with patients about alcohol and drug problems? Results of a long-term follow-up. Teach. Learn Med. 2000; 12:72-77.
INDEX A academic performance, 114, 158, 159, 162 academics, 2, 3, 131 acceleration, 142, 145, 148, 150 accountability, 42 accounting, 74, 77 accreditation, 157 accuracy, 27, 124 achievement, 12, 14, 56, 98, 130, 156, 166, 172, 178 ACM, 95, 97 activation, 13 activity level, 89 actuators, 142 adaptation, 71, 177 addiction, 210, 211, 212 administration, 31 administrators, 171 adolescents, 117 adult, 28, 43 adulthood, 131, 166 adults, 124, 194, 195 advocacy, 210 aesthetics, 4 affective states, xiii, 184, 185 age, 20, 31, 33, 111, 117, 153, 187, 188, 191, 192, 211 Albert Einstein, 38 Alberta, 165 alcohol, xiv, 191, 209, 210, 212, 213 alcohol consumption, 191 alcohol use, 210, 212 algorithm, 145, 148, 150 alpha, 160, 186, 192 alternative, 57, 116, 124, 166 alternatives, 34, 61, 64 amelioration, 165 American Educational Research Association, 77, 128
American Psychological Association, 56, 98 Amsterdam, 34, 97 analysis of variance, 161 anomalous, 97 antecedents, 166 anthropological, xii, 169, 170 anthropology, ix, xii, 4, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179 anxiety, 123, 195 Argentina, 78 argument, 9, 84, 88, 90, 99, 173 articulation, 64 artistic, 4, 11 ASI, 94 aspiration, 156 assessment, 16, 30, 35, 42, 55, 92, 102, 120, 129, 132, 156, 157, 164, 195, 198, 199, 200, 202, 203, 204, 206, 207 assignment, xiii, 44, 197, 200, 202, 205, 206, 207 assumptions, ix, 2, 15, 33, 53, 54, 118, 124, 190 asynchronous, xi, 86, 94, 98, 99, 119, 122, 125, 126, 131, 142 asynchronous communication, 99 attitudes, xiv, 60, 67, 69, 77, 87, 104, 130, 165, 166, 186, 194, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213 attribution, 173 Australia, 1, 18, 33, 117, 136 Austria, 171, 180 authentication, 141 authenticity, 86 automation, 7, 26, 154 autonomy, 116 availability, 203 awareness, xiv, 13, 14, 38, 46, 47, 68, 86, 94, 120, 121, 174, 190, 194, 209, 211
216
Index
B barriers, 71, 190, 191 basic research, 74 behavior, xii, xiii, 55, 91, 183, 185, 186, 189, 190, 191, 192, 194, 195, 196, 204, 212 behavior modification, xiii, 183, 185 behavioral change, xiii, 165, 183, 191, 193, 194 Beijing, 180 beliefs, xii, 60, 124, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166 benefits, x, 37, 46, 49, 50, 51, 54, 55, 104, 106, 113, 114, 117, 131 bias, 54, 73, 176, 194 bilingual, 177, 178, 179 biosciences, 6 blog, xii, 122, 128, 155, 164 blogs, 122, 133 Bolivia, 117 Boston, 32, 56, 80, 99 boys, 106, 110, 114 brain, 31 Buenos Aires, 78 building blocks, 7 burnout, 165
C calculus, 121, 131 calibration, 206, 207 Canada, 95, 131, 154 candidates, 60 CAP, 69 career development, 212 caries, 194, 195 Cartesian coordinates, 142 case study, 97, 99, 128, 129, 131, 132, 166 category d, 20 childhood, 117 children, 79, 98, 103, 110, 112, 130, 156, 177, 210, 212 China, viii, xii, 117, 169, 171, 175, 177, 178, 180, 181, 182 class period, 42 class size, 128, 207 classes, 32, 44, 47, 48, 50, 57, 65, 68, 103, 104, 120, 123, 147, 148, 212 classification, 10, 52, 65, 103, 207 classroom, 5, 18, 20, 39, 41, 43, 45, 55, 56, 57, 60, 63, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 119, 126, 130, 131, 133, 156, 157, 159, 160, 161, 162, 165, 172, 176, 198, 210, 212
classroom practice, 60, 126 classroom settings, 94 classrooms, 52, 129, 157, 199 Cochrane, 189, 195 cognition, 24, 32, 57, 98, 130 cognitive activity, 26 cognitive development, 61, 95, 124, 128 cognitive function, 15, 123 cognitive level, 88, 123 cognitive load, 6, 7, 8, 26, 27, 32, 34, 99 cognitive perspective, 96 cognitive process, 7, 8, 13, 14, 120, 126 cognitive processing, 8, 14, 120, 126 cognitive representations, 84 cognitive style, 14, 15, 17, 25 cognitive system, 10, 123 coherence, 63, 64, 65, 77 collaboration, xi, 40, 47, 63, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 125, 128, 131, 189 Collaborative learning, 57, 82, 93 college campuses, xi, 119 college students, 48, 121, 131, 185 colleges, 44 communication, 4, 5, 6, 9, 25, 28, 32, 55, 63, 74, 82, 86, 93, 94, 99, 121, 123, 128, 129, 130, 132, 136, 137, 141, 146, 157, 172, 177, 210 communication skills, 55 communication technologies, 82 communities, 98 community, 33, 69, 82, 94, 97, 122, 125, 132, 164, 166, 174 competence, 13, 157, 158 competency, 3, 167 competition, 112 competitive sport, 188 complement, 25, 39 complexity, 6, 7, 12, 15, 61, 94 compliance, 188, 196 components, x, 37, 38, 41, 44, 49, 51, 54, 62, 137, 139, 140, 201, 202 comprehension, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 29, 40, 42, 49, 51 compulsory education, 103, 118 computation, 138, 162 computer conferencing, 129 computer science, 166 computer simulations, 138 computer software, 19 concentration, 115 concept map, 26, 119 conception, 68, 75, 98 conceptualization, 127
Index concrete, 73, 74, 84, 176, 177, 178, 179, 191, 204 conditioning, 39, 73 confidence, xii, 158, 160, 162, 163, 174, 183, 184, 190 configuration, 141 conflict, 69, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88, 90, 93, 96, 97, 123, 124 confusion, 67 consensus, ix, 1, 19, 203 consent, 49 conservation, 68, 76 consolidation, 9 construct validity, 163 construction, 7, 40, 61, 64, 69, 70, 71, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 95, 97, 98, 127, 128, 130 constructionist, 199 constructivist, x, 30, 59, 61, 64, 99, 198 consultants, 165 consumption, 114, 191 content analysis, 107, 127 continuity, 148 control, xii, xiv, 8, 43, 85, 92, 124, 131, 136, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 146, 152, 153, 154, 156, 165, 166, 191, 192, 194, 195, 196, 209, 210, 211 control group, xiv, 43, 191, 192, 209, 210, 211 convergence, 99 cooperative learning, 39, 56, 98, 128, 130 coronary heart disease, 196 correlation, 65, 110, 145, 159, 162, 186, 188 correlation coefficient, 186, 188 correlations, 162 counseling, xiv, 190, 191, 209, 211, 212 course content, 47, 48, 50, 52, 56, 121, 123 course work, 65 covering, 160, 162, 206 CPR, 205, 206, 207 creative thinking, 6 creativity, 93 credit, 43, 49, 206 critical points, 91 critical thinking, 45, 54, 164, 205, 206 cross-cultural, 170, 171, 172 cross-cultural comparison, 170 cross-sectional, 164 cues, 10, 11, 27, 34, 127, 191 cultural character, 176 cultural connections, 68 cultural differences, 174 cultural heritage, 68 cultural identity, 69, 169, 179 culture, 11, 41, 69, 169, 170, 171, 175, 176, 177, 179
217
curriculum, 2, 18, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 72, 73, 77, 80, 105, 108, 125, 157, 165, 176, 198, 201 curriculum development, 198 Cyprus, xi, 101, 102, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118
D data analysis, 19, 20, 75 data collection, 73, 75 database, 141 debates, 173 decision makers, 116 decision making, 102, 114, 115 decision-making process, 106, 198 decisions, 66, 73, 76, 111, 112 declarative knowledge, 73 deconstruction, 49 definition, 15, 18, 34, 40, 52, 63, 85, 130, 148, 172, 173, 205 delivery, 63, 65, 73, 129, 211 Delphi, 19, 31, 32 Delphi technique, 19, 31 demographic characteristics, 104 Denmark, 117 dentist, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 194 dentists, 191, 193 Department of Education, 101, 155 dependent variable, 107, 109, 161, 192 determinism, 170 detoxification, 212 developing countries, 116 developmental process, 178 differentiation, 46, 68, 71 direct cost, 104 direct costs, 104 disabilities, 137 disaster, 68 discipline, 2, 4, 6, 13, 14, 24, 64, 67, 68, 136, 156 discourse, 30, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 98, 120, 122, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 133 discrimination, 174, 176 disease activity, 185 diseases, 186 disposition, 33 distance learning, 130, 132, 133 distribution, 88, 126, 176, 192, 200 divergence, 75 diversity, 15, 80 domain specific knowledge, 11, 12 drug abuse, 211, 213 drug abusers, 211, 213 drug addict, xiii, xiv, 209, 210, 211, 212
218
Index
drug addiction, xiii, xiv, 209, 210, 211, 212 drug-related, 213 drugs, 210, 212 dual task, 34 duration, 18, 163, 192, 193
examinations, 43, 57, 108, 110, 157 exclusion, 68, 116 exercise, 28, 47, 120, 124, 165, 198, 202, 203 expertise, 8, 12, 13, 14, 31, 61, 82, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88, 90, 138
E
F
earnings, 110, 112, 114, 118 eating, 187 economic resources, 117 economics, 102, 103, 104 education reform, 156 educational attainment, 103, 118 educational background, 77 educational institutions, xi, 105, 135 educational objective, 30, 207 educational policy, 115, 118 educational practices, 56 educational process, 137, 199 educational psychology, 66, 129, 132, 133 educational research, 60, 64, 169, 170, 174, 175 educational settings, 82, 91, 199 educational system, 102, 115, 174, 177 elaboration, 6, 46, 47, 50, 54, 57, 121, 124 e-learning, xi, xii, 4, 99, 135, 136, 137, 139, 142, 145, 152, 198, 200, 204 emotional state, xiii, 184, 185 empathy, 210 employment, xi, 101, 102, 104, 106, 107, 108, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 179 empowered, 164 encoding, 2, 13, 31, 32, 46 enculturation, 170 end-to-end, 205 engagement, x, 37, 38, 39, 41, 44, 45, 47, 54, 55, 56, 57, 88, 92, 95, 96, 123, 130, 156, 172 English as a second language, xii, 155, 163, 164 English Language, 155, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162 enrollment, 105, 117 enthusiasm, 44 environment, xii, 3, 19, 68, 82, 90, 125, 131, 135, 136, 137, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 150, 152, 156, 177, 198, 211 environmental issues, 71 epistemological, 67, 77, 131, 132 essay question, 120 ethnic culture, 170 ethnic groups, 174, 176, 177, 178 ethnicity, 169, 174, 177 etiology, 165 European Union, xi, 101, 105 evolution, 94, 137, 142, 148, 149, 150, 170
face-to-face interaction, 125 facilitators, 116 factor analysis, 159, 160, 163 failure, 170, 191, 205 familial, ix, 102, 103, 114 family, 103, 111, 112, 116, 117, 174, 194 fatigue, 18 faults, 127 feedback, xiii, 12, 13, 38, 42, 43, 47, 48, 55, 123, 137, 140, 141, 144, 146, 164, 185, 197, 199, 200, 201, 202, 205, 207, 211 feelings, 120, 166, 190 females, 108, 110, 187, 191, 192 financial support, 152, 179 focusing, xi, xii, 12, 27, 60, 82, 119, 156, 164, 169, 170 foreign language, 157, 165
G Gaussian, 145 gender, xi, 20, 101, 104, 107, 109, 110, 113, 114, 115, 188, 192 general fund, 61 Geneva, 132 genre, 9 gestational age, 211 Gibbs, 116 girls, 110, 114 goals, 38, 40, 47, 83, 92, 126, 191, 193, 201, 205, 206, 207, 210 google, 208 GPA, 158, 159, 162, 163 grades, 44, 57, 71, 108, 110, 113, 158, 159, 162, 203 grading, 202, 203, 207 graduate students, 43 graduate unemployment, 115 grammar rules, 157 graph, 4, 21, 22, 23 group activities, 26, 87, 201 group membership, 42 group processes, 82, 89, 93 group therapy, 212 group work, 67, 71, 87, 89, 90, 92
Index grouping, 10 growth, xi, 63, 64, 70, 135, 136, 177 guidance, xi, 64, 115, 119, 120, 123, 128, 131 guidelines, x, 6, 81, 82, 83, 85, 91, 200, 202
H Harvard, 133, 208 health, xii, xiii, 49, 183, 184, 185, 186, 188, 189, 190, 194, 195, 212 high school, 20, 116 high scores, 110 higher education, ix, x, xi, 1, 2, 3, 5, 14, 18, 24, 25, 28, 34, 45, 81, 96, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 133, 198 higher-order thinking, 122 high-level, xii, 82, 87, 92, 135, 136, 137, 141, 143 Hong Kong, vii, xii, 155, 157, 158, 162, 163, 165, 167 HTTP protocol, 140, 142 human, 3, 10, 14, 29, 34, 63, 68, 73, 95, 102, 136, 171, 176 human capital, 102 human capital theory, 102 human nature, 171 human rights, 176 humanity, 170 Hungary, 98 hygiene, xii, 183, 185, 186, 189, 191, 192, 194, 195 hypothesis, 8, 9, 11, 17, 22, 23, 24, 34, 64, 66, 73, 75, 77
I ICT, 82, 198 identity, 63, 68, 69, 70, 76, 141, 169, 171, 179, 182 imagery, 9, 25, 32 images, 4, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 63, 122, 145 implementation, 130, 131, 165, 166 inactive, 89, 91 incentive, 191 incentives, 191 incidence, ix, 2 inclusion, 62, 107, 116 independent variable, 107, 109, 192 indication, 17, 107 indicators, xii, 71, 73, 75, 77, 183, 184 indices, 160 indirect effect, 117 individual action, 184
219
individual character, 109, 110, 115 individual characteristics, 109, 115 individual development, 63 individual differences, 54, 89, 104 individual students, 89, 102, 104 individualism, 63 induction, 163, 164, 173 inequality, 118 Information and Communication Technologies, 82, 198 information processing, 5, 7 information sharing, 91, 164 information technology, xii, 4, 93, 155, 157, 207 insight, 8, 17, 28, 38, 75, 164, 207 inspiration, 53 institutions, xi, 45, 74, 105, 115, 135, 170 instruction, xii, xiii, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 20, 24, 25, 30, 39, 55, 57, 82, 123, 125, 128, 129, 173, 183, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195 instructional design, 8, 10, 31, 94 instructional materials, 32 instructional methods, 25, 39 instructional planning, 96 instructional practice, 165 instructional procedures, 7 instructional techniques, 119 instructors, x, xi, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 48, 52, 54, 55, 106, 119, 122, 123 instruments, 16, 17, 18, 31, 71, 76, 156 integration, 6, 8, 27, 45, 76, 82, 121, 176 intellectual development, 123 intelligence, 136, 170 intelligence quotient, 170 intentions, 102, 103, 107, 108, 109, 110, 115, 117 interaction, xi, 9, 38, 46, 57, 63, 83, 84, 94, 95, 99, 119, 120, 123, 124, 126, 127, 129, 130, 146, 171, 176, 200 interaction process, 123 interactions, 40, 46, 82, 83, 85, 98, 120, 123, 125, 132, 157 interactivity, xi, 122, 131, 135 interdisciplinary, xii, 96, 97, 169, 170, 172, 179 interface, xii, 135, 137, 139, 142, 143, 150, 152 internal consistency, 160, 163, 186 internalization, 123 Internet, vii, xi, xii, 99, 122, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 141, 144, 153, 154, 157, 198, 204, 207 interpersonal communication, 94 intervention, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 204 interview, 190, 202 interviews, 164, 190 intrinsic, 7, 68, 114 intrinsic value, 68
220
Index
investigative, 64, 71, 72 investment, 114, 139, 152 invitation to participate, 158
J Jacobian, 142 Java, xii, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 145, 147, 148, 152, 153 judgment, xiii, 127, 184, 185, 202, 207 junior high, 166 junior high school, 166
K kinematics, 152 King, 83, 84, 96, 120, 124, 129, 130, 133 knowledge acquisition, 128 knowledge construction, 7, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 95, 98, 127, 130
L LAN, 141 language, xii, 4, 7, 9, 13, 14, 24, 26, 28, 95, 120, 127, 138, 140, 147, 155, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 167, 177, 178 language proficiency, 157 LEA, 97 learners, ix, xiii, 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 17, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 81, 83, 84, 88, 91, 92, 94, 95, 120, 124, 125, 130, 197 learning activity, 2, 27 learning difficulties, 71 learning environment, ix, 1, 7, 18, 57, 82, 86, 93, 96, 97, 99, 120, 125, 129, 132, 153, 157, 164, 199, 205 learning outcomes, 38, 44, 46, 121, 156, 157 learning process, xi, xiii, 5, 7, 16, 17, 26, 62, 96, 121, 122, 135, 197, 198, 199 learning styles, ix, 1, 2, 3, 16, 17, 18, 25, 26, 27, 30, 33 learning task, 57, 88, 122 lesson plan, 92 life experiences, 122 lifelong learning, 47 lifestyle, 189 lifestyle changes, 189 likelihood, 42, 109, 159 Likert scale, 186, 187, 210 limitation, 164 limitations, 38, 47, 53, 64, 65, 77, 164
lingual, 177 linguistic, 5, 127 linguistics, 3, 4, 177, 178 links, 10, 19, 26, 27, 50, 77, 86 listening, xii, 27, 28, 155, 157, 158, 160, 162, 164 literacy, ix, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 120, 129, 133 longitudinal study, 188 long-term memory, 9, 10, 11 LSI, 16
M mainstream, 157, 176, 177, 179 males, 108, 187, 191, 192 management, xiv, 95, 99, 121, 122, 133, 136, 185, 189, 195, 196, 209 man-made, 3 MANOVA, 161 mapping, 26 market, 115, 116, 118 mastery, 39, 43, 56, 65, 72, 163, 185 mathematics, 57, 130, 132, 157, 166 matrix, 159, 162, 173 Maximum Likelihood, 160 MBTI, 16 meanings, 11, 26, 124, 126, 177 measurement, 16, 17, 31, 67, 166, 201 measures, 16, 25, 102, 107, 115, 116, 156, 160, 162, 164, 185, 191, 195 media, 17, 66, 98 mediation, xi, 119 medical care, 212 medical school, 212 medical student, xiii, 209, 210, 212, 213 memory, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 38, 47, 48, 55, 71, 198 memory retrieval, 10, 27 men, 104, 158 mental model, 8, 9 mental processes, xi, 119 mental representation, 8, 9, 92 mentoring, 133 Mercury, 136, 137, 153 messages, 7, 14, 18, 25, 26, 86, 89, 125, 157 meta-analysis, 56, 95 metacognition, 132 metacognitive skills, 127 metaphor, 11, 29, 53, 54 metaphors, 11, 33 middle class, 104 middle-aged, 176 Ministry of Education, 175
Index minorities, 116, 170, 177, 178 minority, 171, 173, 174, 175, 177, 178 minority students, 171, 178 MIT, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 94, 98, 153 modalities, ix, 2, 8, 16, 18, 23, 28, 33 modality, 9, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26 modeling, 185 models, xii, 4, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26, 60, 64, 66, 83, 103, 104, 107, 120, 121, 133, 139, 183, 189, 194, 198 motivation, 38, 39, 57, 88, 92, 107, 111, 115, 116, 156, 190 motives, 104, 111, 115 movement, 5, 19, 20, 145, 148 MSP, 16 multicultural, 68, 70, 79, 174, 178 multicultural education, 174 multidimensional, 156 multidisciplinary, 211 multimedia, ix, 1, 4, 33, 122, 131 multiple regression, 192 multiple regression analysis, 192 multivariate, 161 Myers-Briggs, 16, 33
N national culture, 177, 179 national identity, 179 National Science Foundation, 205 nationality, 170, 177, 178, 181, 182 NATO, 94 natural science, 97 natural sciences, 97 network, xii, 7, 125, 130, 136, 137, 141 networked computers, 125 neuropsychology, 33 Newton, 195 NIH, 212 normal, 3, 127, 172, 173, 175 norms, 175 nuclear, 136 nuclear power, 136
O obligations, 210 observations, 24, 120, 122, 123, 164 occupational, ix, 102, 103, 104, 106, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116 OECD, 102, 117
221
online, ix, xi, 16, 82, 96, 97, 98, 99, 119, 121, 122, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 138, 144, 153, 200 online learning, ix, xi, 82, 96, 97, 119 open-mindedness, 212 operant conditioning, 39 operating system, 139 operator, 145 oral presentations, 201 orchestration, 94 organic, 20 orientation, 114, 145, 157
P parameter, 137, 148 parenting, 212 parents, 103, 108, 110, 112, 115 participant observation, 173 passive, xiii, 6, 7, 38, 45, 48, 90, 91, 197 path planning, 141, 143, 144, 145, 148, 149, 150, 152 patient education program, 186 patients, xii, xiii, xiv, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 193, 194, 195, 196, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213 PCR, 189 pedagogical, x, 3, 15, 16, 51, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 71, 74, 77, 81, 83, 86, 89, 91, 96, 97, 132 pedagogies, 67 pedagogy, 15, 30, 61, 85, 88, 170, 171, 172, 177, 178 pediatric, 33 peer, xiii, 39, 46, 47, 56, 95, 99, 117, 120, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 128, 129, 130, 197, 198, 199, 200, 202, 207, 208 peer assessment, 198 peer influence, 117 peer tutoring, 39, 56, 95 peers, xiii, 40, 42, 46, 47, 51, 55, 103, 115, 116, 122, 124, 125, 157, 197, 198, 201, 206, 207 perceptual processing, 9 perceptual sensitivity, 13 periodontal, xii, xiii, 183, 184, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195 periodontal disease, xii, xiii, 183, 184, 186, 187, 188, 194, 195 periodontitis, xiii, 183, 184, 187, 191 personal accomplishment, xiii, 184, 185 personal history, 8 personal hygiene, 195 personal learning, 164 personal life, 54
222
Index
personal responsibility, 85 personality, 15, 16, 104, 177, 179 personality traits, 15 personality type, 15, 16 persuasion, xiii, 163, 184, 185 physicians, 212, 213 physics, 131, 138 physiological, xiii, 163, 184, 185 Piagetian, 129 planning, 28, 40, 63, 65, 96, 102, 106, 116, 141, 143, 144, 145, 148, 149, 150, 152, 156 plaque, 188, 192, 193, 194, 195 play, xi, 6, 7, 25, 26, 52, 53, 82, 84, 93, 103, 104, 135 PLC, 140, 142, 144 policy initiative, 60, 102 policy makers, 102, 115, 116 policy making, 102 political power, 156 politics, 60, 177 poor, 8, 179, 188, 202 population, 164, 178, 210, 211, 212 population density, 178 portability, xii, 135, 137 portfolio, xii, 77, 122, 131, 155, 164 post-compulsory education, 103, 104 power, xii, 135, 136, 140, 152, 176 powers, 156 prediction, 109 pre-existing, 61 preference, 16, 23, 127 pregnancy, xiv, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213 pregnant, xiv, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213 pregnant women, xiv, 209, 210, 212 prejudice, 174 prenatal care, 210 preparedness, 166 preservice teachers, 165 press, 31, 33, 44, 57, 93, 96, 99 pressure, 191 prevention, 186, 187, 195 preventive, 195, 211 primary data, 106 primary school, 157, 165, 176 prior knowledge, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 24, 32, 46, 121 probability, 107, 110 problem solving, xi, 31, 98, 119, 120, 121, 124, 130, 166 problem-based learning, 125 problem-solving, xiii, 7, 34, 76, 94, 130, 197 procedural knowledge, 121 procrastination, 39, 49
professional development, x, 59, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 73, 74, 75, 77, 131 professions, 28, 80, 132 prognosis, xiii, 183 program, xiii, 30, 133, 138, 140, 141, 147, 148, 152, 157, 158, 163, 164, 166, 175, 184, 185, 189, 194, 196, 213 programming, xii, 129, 135, 138, 139, 142, 145, 147, 148, 152 prosperity, 112 protocol, 140, 142, 150 protocols, 126, 137, 141, 144 prototype, 175 PSI, 39 psychiatrist, 210 psychological health, 179 psychological processes, 133 psychological variables, 71 psychologist, 193 psychology, x, 15, 37, 43, 44, 45, 47, 49, 55, 56, 57, 61, 103, 104, 112, 113, 128, 178, 208 public, 28, 102, 105, 106, 116, 131, 157 public schools, 106 public sector, 105 pupils, 38 P-value, 189, 193
Q qualifications, 2, 19, 103 qualitative research, 172, 175 quality of life, 196 questioning, 5, 47, 52, 63, 84, 87, 96 questionnaire, 16, 18, 20, 30, 67, 68, 73, 74, 75, 77, 106, 107, 108, 114, 127, 130, 158, 165, 176 questionnaires, 16, 21, 195, 199 quizzes, 45, 50, 57
R race, 104, 195 racism, 170 random, 48, 191 random numbers, 191 range, 14, 15, 20, 21, 28, 38, 40, 47, 54, 61, 69, 73, 75, 137, 156, 175, 201 rapid prototyping, 138 rate of return, 104, 108 rating scale, 201 ratings, 108, 109, 110, 113, 114, 167, 206
Index reading, xii, 3, 4, 7, 10, 11, 26, 43, 45, 49, 51, 52, 55, 95, 121, 126, 132, 155, 157, 158, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 202 reading comprehension, 10 real time, 200 reality, xii, 97, 135, 138, 144, 152, 157, 169, 172, 173, 177, 178, 179 reasoning, 95, 124, 125, 130 recall, 5, 11, 27, 29, 32, 48, 55 recognition, 10, 19, 24, 32, 34, 71, 111, 138, 145 reconstruction, 170 recovery, 170, 212 recurrence, 187 reflection, xi, 46, 47, 53, 54, 61, 63, 64, 65, 68, 70, 74, 77, 98, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 131, 132, 164, 166, 175 reflective practice, 129, 130, 132 regression, 104, 107, 109, 110, 113, 192, 193 regression analysis, 107, 110, 192 regression equation, 110, 113 regular, 116, 123, 136, 186, 187 regulation, 99, 116, 129 regulations, 95 rehabilitation, xiii, xiv, 209, 210, 211, 212 rehabilitation program, 212 reinforcement, 27, 166 relapse, 190, 191 relationship, 60, 66, 131, 165, 169, 171, 173, 177, 179, 185, 195 relationships, 11, 132, 158, 162 relatives, 106, 108, 109 relevance, 25, 47, 67, 69, 157, 158, 160 replication, 57, 164 Research and Development, 130, 131, 132 research design, 18 residential, xi, 119, 211 resolution, 32, 46, 86, 88, 123 resources, xi, 6, 7, 10, 60, 64, 71, 74, 75, 76, 84, 85, 87, 117, 135, 156, 198, 212 responsibilities, 157 responsibility for learning, 39 restructuring, 60, 91, 124 retention, x, 2, 28, 38, 43, 120, 195 rhetoric, 6, 60 robotic, xi, 135, 136, 137, 139, 142, 143, 146, 152 robotics, vii, xi, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 142, 152, 153, 154 routines, 34, 142, 147 rubrics, 126, 127, 201, 202, 207, 208
S safeguard, 191
223
safety, 5 salary, 111, 112 sample, xii, 20, 68, 69, 73, 74, 75, 106, 109, 114, 155, 158, 159, 164 sampling, 19, 42, 163, 164 SAR, 165 schema, 7, 13, 26 schemas, 7, 8, 12, 24 school, xi, 20, 29, 43, 62, 63, 66, 68, 71, 77, 80, 101, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 121, 128, 129, 130, 157, 165, 166, 167, 170, 171, 173, 175, 176, 178, 212 school performance, 113 school work, 170 schooling, 67, 116 science education, 95 science literacy, 129 science teaching, 166 scientific knowledge, 128 scores, xii, 23, 25, 43, 48, 107, 108, 110, 155, 159, 160, 162, 163, 186, 188, 192, 201, 202, 207 scripts, x, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 89, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99 second language, xii, 155, 162, 163, 164 secondary education, xi, 2, 101, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110 secondary school students, 103, 115 secondary schools, 157 secondary students, 30 secondary teachers, 64, 74 security, 60, 112, 150 segmentation, 145 selective attention, 34 selectivity, 177 self, vii, viii, xii, xiii, 55, 79, 82, 95, 121, 126, 128, 155, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 165, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196 self-assessment, 30, 206 self-awareness, 47, 120, 174 self-care, xiii, 184, 186, 189, 190, 192, 194 self-concept, 166 self-efficacy, xii, xiii, 56, 155, 156, 157, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 192, 193, 194, 195 self-esteem, 195 self-identity, 169, 171 self-management, 196 self-monitoring, 125, 190 self-reflection, 131 self-report, 126, 156, 158, 159, 194 self-reports, 156, 159 self-study, 64 semantic, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 26, 27, 31
224
Index
semantic information, 5 semantic processing, 8, 9 semantics, 4 semiotics, 4 sensory experience, 3 sensory modalities, 8 SES, 109 Shanghai, 180 sharing, 46, 91, 125, 127, 164 short-term, 6, 9, 33, 191, 195 short-term memory, 9, 33 siblings, 116 similarity, 5, 23, 146 simulation, xii, 135, 137, 138, 140, 141, 142, 144, 147, 148, 150, 152 simulations, 138, 139, 152, 153 singularities, 142 skills, ix, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 16, 24, 25, 26, 28, 32, 33, 47, 55, 56, 65, 72, 76, 105, 116, 127, 129, 139, 152, 157, 158, 160, 163, 164, 165, 202, 204, 205, 206, 207 SLA, 78, 79 social change, 177 social class, 103, 110, 114, 116, 117 social cognitive model, 193, 194 social construct, 129, 199 social desirability, 194 social development, 173 social environment, 71 social events, 191 social exchange, 124 social exclusion, 69 social group, 63, 110 social participation, 47, 51 social presence, 126 social psychology, 93 social status, 103 social studies teaching, 60, 61, 62 social work, 210 social workers, 210 socialization, 80 sociocultural, 133 socioeconomic, 107, 108, 109, 110 socioeconomic background, 110 socioeconomic status, 107, 108, 109, 110 sociologist, 174 sociologists, 102, 175 sociology, 15, 103, 170, 172, 178 software, xii, 20, 85, 133, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 142, 150, 152, 153, 198, 200, 205 special education, 165, 177 specific knowledge, 11, 12 specificity, 157, 164
speech, 26, 120, 130 sports, 30, 188 stability, 15, 22, 137, 179, 186 staff development, 165, 166 stages, 62, 75, 205 standard deviation, 160, 189 standard error, 109 standards, 64, 202 statistics, 20, 107, 108, 109, 110, 115 stimulus, 9, 13, 19, 27 STM, 9 strategies, ix, xi, 1, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 31, 33, 55, 61, 64, 67, 74, 77, 119, 120, 121, 123, 128, 129, 133, 160, 163, 176 stratification, 116 structural characteristics, 8 structuring, x, 9, 10, 34, 59, 86, 96 student achievement, 165, 166 student feedback, 42, 48 student group, 86 student motivation, 38, 39, 102, 107 student teacher, 166 students’ ideas, 71 students’ understanding, 6 subjective, 19 subjectivity, 29 substance abuse, 210, 211 substance use, xiv, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213 substances, 211 success rate, 110 supervision, 20, 39, 88 supervisors, 156 symbols, 3, 4, 11, 27, 69 symptoms, xiii, 183, 185, 211 synchronous, 142, 150 syntax, 5, 18 synthesis, 33, 127, 173
T teacher performance, 163 teacher training, x, 2, 59, 60, 64, 65, 70, 77, 121, 127 teaching effectiveness, xii, 155, 163 teaching experience, 2, 62, 86, 161 teaching strategies, ix, 1, 18 team members, 84, 204 technicians, 154 technological revolution, 137 teenagers, 170 temporal, 67, 68, 148, 149 tertiary education, ix, 102, 105, 115 test anxiety, 56 test scores, 43
Index textbooks, 6, 63, 70 think critically, ix, 1, 4, 14 thinking, xi, 15, 16, 32, 45, 47, 52, 56, 66, 73, 80, 97, 98, 119, 120, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 165, 206, 208 thinking styles, 16 threshold, 39 time constraints, 73 tolerance, 212 tradition, 3, 64, 127, 169, 177 traditional model, 60, 64, 66 trainees, x, 59, 65, 67, 69, 70, 73, 77 training, x, xii, 2, 12, 13, 39, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 72, 73, 74, 77, 115, 121, 127, 135, 137, 152, 157, 163, 164, 195, 210, 212 trajectory, 142, 145, 146, 147, 148, 150 trans, 140 transformation, 11, 38, 40, 142 treatment methods, 188 treatment programs, 211 tutoring, 39, 84, 87, 208
U uncertainty, 83, 84 undergraduate, ix, x, 1, 2, 17, 20, 22, 23, 24, 33, 37, 38, 43, 44, 49, 57, 110, 131, 158 undergraduates, 45, 47 unemployment, 104, 113, 115 unification, 177 United Kingdom, 103 United States, 117, 210 universities, xii, 44, 60, 102, 104, 108, 115, 136, 157, 172 university education, 117 university students, 98
V validation, 75, 195 validity, 16, 164, 186
225
values, 66, 67, 71, 107, 124, 141, 142, 145, 147, 149, 159, 161, 189, 193, 201 variability, 200 variables, ix, xi, 11, 60, 75, 77, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 109, 110, 113, 114, 142, 147, 148, 185, 192, 193, 194, 195 variance, 159, 161, 185 variation, 53 velocity, 145, 148, 150 verbal persuasion, xiii, 184, 185 vocabulary, 6, 18 vocational, 96, 105, 106, 115, 117 vocational education, 96, 117 voice, 27, 120, 164 Vygotsky, 119, 120, 123, 133, 208
W web, xi, 82, 86, 89, 90, 93, 135, 137, 139, 140, 141, 143, 152, 154, 198, 207 Web 2.0, 122 web browser, 139 web sites, 198 web-based, 86, 89, 93, 154, 207 Weblog, 122, 128, 129, 131, 133 women, xiii, xiv, 104, 105, 116, 158, 209, 210, 211, 212 workers, 136, 138 working class, 103, 104 working conditions, 63 working hours, 191 working memory, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 26, 29 workspace, 136, 142, 143, 150 World Wide Web (WWW), 98, 137, 153 writing, xi, xii, 11, 44, 45, 48, 56, 57, 95, 99, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 155, 157, 158, 160, 161, 162, 164, 178, 201, 205 writing process, 120
